The Lazytown Chronicle
by Mlle. Phoenix Fox
Summary: SportacusOC Romance! Sportacus is clumsy! Could it have anything to do with the the beautiful new artist that moved into Lazytown? And will Robbie Rotten use the pretty newcomer as a pawn in his most rotten plan to date?
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: Hello everyone! Just taking a little detour from my POTC and POTO fanfiction to bring you this little series. I just discovered this show and I think it's a cool little show. And not to sound like a raging fangirl but Magnus Sheving is a total hunk! On that note, he created Lazytown, he and tons of other entertainment companies owns everything related to Lazytown except my original character.**_

**_To all my loyal readers of POTO and POTC, I will update those fics soon, but me muse was calling me to write this fic. _**

**_To any new readers, check out all my POTC and POTO fics already up and running!_**

**_Read and Review!_**

**_Peace, love and lipgloss, _**

**_Mlle.Fox_**

_The Lazytown Chronicle_

SUMMARY: As Editor for the Lazytown Chronicle, it's my job to make sure all the news is reported. And since Sportacus moved in, boy, has there been a lot of news! But the biggest headline is about to come. An beautiful artist named Tara Trueheart has moved in, and suddenly Sportacus is clumsy! Concerned, the kids go to the Major and Miss Busybody for advice on how to help their friend where they make a shocking discovery. Sportacus is in love! And when Robbie Rotten finds out, he decides to use the pretty newcomer in his most rotten plan to date. Can the Kids help Sportacus make a move? Will they discover Robbie's plan? Will Sportacus learn there's more to life than exercise? Will Tara find a home and a way into a slightly above average superhero's heart?

"Lady in Red"

It was a beautiful day in Lazytown. The sun began to rise and the warmth of summer streamed into the portholes of the airship hanging in the the sky over the sleepy little burg. As soon as the sun hit his face, the world's healthiest hero snapped his eyes open and jumped up doing a flip out of the bed. He stretched his arms out wide and smiled in content. It had nearly been a year since Stephanie had written to him and asked him to help her out with this town. Now it was finally a home. He ran across the room and did a cartwheel to a spot by a cabinet built into a wall. He pushed a button and out came a bright shiny apple which he caught with ease and began to happily eat. He had such a great life. Good friends, good food, good health, good job. What more could he need? He threw away the core in the recycling bin and then ran over to the hatch and climbed down the ladder.

Once upon the ground, the superhero hopped, jumped, ran, did cartwheels and flips while trying to find The Kids. Finally, he found them in their tree house watching something across the street.

"Hello everyone!" he called up.

"Sportacus! Shush! We don't want the movers to know we're watching them!" called down a little blond chubby boy by the name of Ziggy. Sportacus furrowed his brow in curiosity as he looked across the street. He saw a big moving van over the bushes, but the hedges were so high, he couldn't make out what was being moved or where. So he stepped back a few feet, jumped up, grabbed a tree branch, swung over it and then again with a different branch until he was on the same level as the kids. Dressed in his usual finery, Stingy said looking through a pair of binoculars,

"Oh wow! They have great stuff!"

"Let me see! Let me see!" demanded Trixie a sporty looking girl of Asian descent with three pigtails.

"No!" Stingy whined. Stephanie, the tallest girl with pink hair and clothes, told Sportacus,

"The truck showed up an hour or so ago. It woke all of us up!" Pixel, a black boy with light brown locks and techno-gadgets hanging off his arms told the superhero as he typed into his laptop,

"I've been trying to access the city website and see who's moving in, but I'm not getting any luck. Maybe if I reroute the server and..."

"I think you all are being a bit too nosy. The new neighbors will introduce themselves once they get settled in. In the meantime, I think it would be best to go play a game." Sportacus told them wisely. The Kids groaned.

"Aw please Sportacus? We just want to know if a kid is moving in!" Ziggy pleaded.

"Yeah...there hasn't been anyone new since I moved in last summer. And wouldn't it be nice to introduce ourselves when they get here?" Stephanie asked him. Sportacus lifted a bemused eyebrow,

"It would be nice to introduce ourselves first. But do we have to watch them move in and look at all their things?" The Kids hung their heads and sighed,

"No..."

"Now come on. I know a great game we..." But Sportacus was cut off by the roar of a great, loud engine revving up. Up the street came a bright red, super sleek motorcycle with a rider clad all in red leather. The motorcycle pulled into the driveway beside the moving van and the biker turned off the engine and propped the bike on its stand. Dismounting, the rider took off the full helmet blocking view of the face beneath. A river of light brown hair fell down the riders back in waves. She tossed the hair over her shoulder and Sportacus gave a small intact of breath. She was beautiful. Full round face, soft rosy skin, full pink lips and wide vibrate eyes. He licked his lips, unknowingly leaning forward. Before he could think, Stephanie yelled out,

"Sportacus! Watch out!"

* * *

Across the street, the young woman rider in red heard someone cry out,

"Sportacus! Watch out!" She looked over her shoulder to see a blue figure fall out of a tree. She gasped running across the street,

"Oh no!" She ran over expecting to find a child since she noticed the tree had a tree house. So imagine her surprise when she stood over a fully grown man laying in a bush. _And what a man!_ She involuntarily thought looking him over. Dressed in fashionable, blue sportswear, the suit clung to a body that was akin to a Greek god. Pure muscle was even more pronounced as he scrambled to get up. He managed to prop himself up on his elbows and she got a good look at his face. It was handsome, with deep blue eyes and chiseled features. The pointed mustache was a bit much, but on him...it worked.

"Are you alright?" she asked leaning over him. Sportacus looked up at the voice and saw the woman in red. And she was just as beautiful up close. Maybe too beautiful for leaning over, she created a bit of cleavage that he caught himself looking at with embarrassment. He was about to speak when Stephanie yelled out as she climbed down the ladder followed by her friends,

"Sportacus! Are you alright?" Sportacus cringed...he didn't want the kids to see him like this! He quickly sprang up and started picking leaves off his clothes, ignoring the questioning gaze of the woman next to him. He said with a nervous laugh,

"I'm fine! Just fine! After all...everybody has accidents every once in a while." Ziggy came up to him and protested,

"Not you! You're Sportacus 10! The World's Greatest Superhero!"

"Superhero huh?" the woman asked with an amused little smirk. That little smirk turned Sportacus' insides to sugar free jelly. He just gave a small, weak half grin in response as Trixie told the woman,

"Yeah! He's great! He can run faster that the African cheetah which can run up to 20 miles an hour!"

"Really?" she laughed noticing how the man began to turn red.

"Yeah! He can do moves and flips that defy the laws of gravity! You know the stuff you only see in video games?" Pixel declared.

"He's always teaching us new ways to stay healthy. He's Sportacus 10, Lazytown's resident superhero!" Stephanie piped up.

"Slighty...above average...hero..." Sportacus corrected softly.

"I feel safer already!" the woman smiled as Sportacus turned another shade of red. _And red is so my favorite color. A shy superhero? Adorable!_ She thought to herself. Always polite, Stephanie spoke to the woman,

"Oh...I'm sorry. We haven't introduced ourselves. I'm Stephanie, this is Pixel, Ziggy, Trixie and Stingy. And you already met Sportacus!" Nodding to each of the kids and giving Sportacus another smile, the woman replied with a slight Southern accent coming through,

"It's nice to meet all of you. I'm Tara. Tara Trueheart."

"Hi Tara!" chorused the kids at once. Not wanting to be rude to a new friend, Sportacus faced Tara and offered her his hand. He gave her a wide smile and said softly,

"It's nice to meet you Tara." Tara took his hand in a daze. His smile was so warm and open, his hand so strong and his grip so sure. She definitely felt something when they touched. Tingles of pleasure. Meanwhile Sportacus didn't know what was happening to him. For the first time in his life, his knees felt weak, his throat was dry and he was sweating but at the same time he shivered. He didn't know if he was sick or what and that feeling scared him. All he knew was that he felt...tingly all over. And it was a great feeling.

"Nice to meet you...Sportacus." Tara replied with a soft smile. Sportacus found he couldn't form words anymore and he just kept staring into her deep emerald eyes. The Kids were as confused as ever. They looked back and forth between the two grownups with furrowed brows trying to figure out what was happening. Tara let out a breath finally breaking the mood as she said,

"Well I should get back and tell the movers where to put everything."

"Ooh! Ooh! Can we help?" asked Ziggy excitingly.

"Must we?" Stingy replied boredly before Trixie elbowed him in the ribs.

"We would like to help you any way we can if that's okay with you, Tara." Stephanie told the woman. Tara smiled,

"Sure. I could use all the help I can get."

"Cool! I can set up your computer!" Pixel exclaimed.

"I can help you unpack your groceries!" Ziggy exclaimed.

"Ziggy, she just moved in. She probably doesn't have any groceries yet." Trixie told him. Ziggy thought for a second before replying,

"Then I'll help her shop for some!" Tara and Stephanie laughed while the other's just shook their heads. But a question formed in Sportacus' mind and before he thought about it twice, he asked Tara,

"So...you're not ...married or...anything?" Tara looked at him with a little astonishment. He did not just ask her if she was single? She replied,

"No it's just me. That's why I could use some help."

"Well let's go!" exclaimed Stephanie. Tara turned to Sportacus,

"How about it Sportacus? I could use a big strong guy like you to lift something heavy." Sportacus began to laugh nervously as the Kids furrowed his brows again. Suddenly Sportacus felt a little lightheaded, as if all the blood had left his brain. Where it was ending up, made him extremely embarrassed.

"Um...actually...I have to go...clean up my airship. I think I forgot to make the bed this morning and um...other stuff. But set aside some stuff for me and I'll come over later to help okay?" he told her with a smile.

"That's probably best. That way we can have all the stuff in boxes packed away." Tara nodded.

"Great! I'll see you later then! Well...I'll be going now." Sportacus started backing up and grinning. He raised his hand to wave, "Bye kids!...Woah!" Everyone gasped as he tripped over a small wall in the park.

"Sportacus!" cried Stephanie as everyone started to rush forward. But then Sportacus jumped to his feet and laughed,

"Gotcha!" Everyone laughed at his 'joke' and walked off towards the house. Tara smiled at him over her shoulder,

"See you around...Sport..." Sportacus gulped audibly at the way her voice had deepened and taken on a silky quality. When she had turned to her house, Sportacus broke off into a run, but not before tripping over his own foot. He sprung up to his feet, looked around to make sure no one saw that, then ran off.

* * *

But someone was watching. A periscope leading to an underground lair under the streets of Lazytown allowed the World's Laziest Super-Villain Robbie Rotten to see everything that had happened.

"The big jerk is falling all over the place! He's never that uncoordinated! What happened?" The tall, skinny evil doer in red and purple striped clothes went to snap the periscope shut but got his hands caught instead.

"OWWIIIEEE!" He pulled his hands out and whimpered,

"I meant to do that!" He went over to his fuzzy orange recliner and sat down to think while munching on a bag of pork rines. He said with his mouth full,

"Something made Sporta-creep clumsy. People get clumsy by being distracted...What could have possibly distracted Sporta-Loser enough to make him clumsy? Hmm...this could take a while...Better sleep on it!" And with that, Robbie threw away the bag and turned over to curl up in his chair, involuntarily sucking his thumb as he started to snore.

* * *

Meanwhile, the kids were all doing their part to help Tara settle in. Tara had sent Ziggy, Stingy and Trixie out to get some groceries (since Ziggy was tripping from trying to carry too much at once, Stingy was trying to claim Tara's things as his, and Trixie tricked Tara into thinking she had fallen down the stairs and hurt herself when she really hadn't.) So Pixel was deeply involved into setting up her computer and Stephanie was helping Tara put away her clothes in her room.

"Is red your favorite color?" Stephanie asked noticing her entire wardrobe was red. Putting away some winter sweaters, Tara nodded,

"Sure is!" _Especially on certain buff superheros!_ Tara thought to herself with a wry smirk.

"Mine's pink! All of my clothes are pink!"

"Boy you sure are one happy go lucky kid, aren't ya Steph?" Tara laughed.

"I always have a positive outlook. That's what my parents taught me!" Stephanie told her.

"Where are your parents anyway? You said you lived with your uncle, the Mayor?" Tara asked.

"They travel around on business a lot. It was really hard for them to do their jobs while trying to figure out how to take care of me. So Uncle Milford offered to take care of me while they were on their travels." Stephanie explained.

"Oh. And what do they do?" asked Tara.

"They take pictures of erupting volcanoes." Stephanie said with a shrug. Tara stopped wide eyed,

"...Oh..."

"But they're always careful. And they email me pictures of their trips. It's really cool." Stephanie said with a smile. Tara smiled with intention,

"Speaking of cool...I...liked meeting your friend Sportacus today."

"Isn't he great? But..." Stephanie said her expression turning into a thoughtful frown.

"What's wrong Steph?" Tara asked.

"He wasn't quite himself today. He was tripping and being very clumsy." Stephanie said.

"Well everyone trips and falls." Tara said.

"Not Sportacus. He's the most graceful, active and coordinated person I ever met. Once, Robbie Rotten tried to make Sportacus fall into a manhole while he was doing his back flips, but Sportacus just avoided it entirely." Stephanie told her.

"Robbie Rotten?" asked Tara with a scrunched up expression. Stephanie nodded,

"He's Lazytown's resident Super-Villain! Although...he isn't very good at it...he's way too lazy to be really and truly evil. And Sportacus is way too smart for him."

"Huh...so...Sportacus said he lived in an airship?" Tara asked. Stephanie got up from the bed and pointed out the window for her.

"There it is! He pedals it around the sky and it has all sorts of gadgets on there! And if you ever need him, just write him a letter and send it up his shoot, or he'll know you're in real trouble if his crystal will blink." Stephanie explained. Tara followed her line of vision to the blue blimp high up in the sky. She figured that was just like him. She wondered what he was doing right now.


	2. Chapter 2

**_A/N:Another undate from the Editor of the Lazytown Chronicle. The story of Sportacus becoming a klutz continues..._**

**_

* * *

_**

"How could I do such a thing!" Sportacus moaned to himself. First he had fibbed and told everyone his ship needed cleaning when it didn't, then he had started tripping and falling all over himself. He was known for his moves, he couldn't let the Kids or anyone see him being a total klutz. He stopped his pacing and said with a panic,

"Oh no...what if I'm sick? If I'm sick that might explain why I'm tripping over everything and not being myself! My center of balance is off...yeah...that must be it...Oh no! I can't be sick! That'll mean I'll have to see a...doctor!" Sportacus shivered involuntarily at the thought. He knew in his mind that doctors were good important people that helped people stay healthy, but his fear of them since childhood kept welling up. He shook off his fears and thought again, pacing once more. He started feeling funny after meeting Tara. Sportacus stopped and smiled at the thought of her pretty face and her name.

_Tara! She's so beautiful! And not just flowers and trees and blue skies beautiful...but a different kind of beautiful. She just...is..._ Sportacus sighed and resumed pacing, but this time at a more leisurely pace. He thought about the strange reaction his body had when he looked at Tara. Everything had tensed up and the blood went down...well it went down to a place that embarrassed Sportacus too much he didn't want to think about it. Then he remembered how when he had looked at Tara, images of touching her skin and running his fingers through her hair had flashed in his brain. The reactions came immediately after thinking about what it would be like to touch her. He looked down at the hand that did get a chance to touch her. It began to feel all tingly again. Soon thoughts came to his head and his body was tensing up again.

"Not again!" he groaned flopping onto his bed in aggravation. Then he sat up with a brilliant idea. Maybe if he did some sit ups and push ups...he would forget the funny feelings and get back to normal! Yeah! That was it! Immediately he sat on the floor and began to do sit ups and crunches like a man possessed.

* * *

Back at Tara's house, Ziggy, Stingy and Trixie had returned from the grocery store. Ziggy handed her his bag saying,

"I carried the eggs Tara! And I think I managed to not break three!" Looking into the egg carton with a grimace, Tara replied,

"Uh..thanks Ziggy. Now I can have some scrambled eggs for breakfast...before I go out shopping again." She put the bag down as Trixie handed her another,

"Here you go Tara. And I found a can of peanut brittle in the candy aisle for you!" Taking out the can, Tara said while opening it,

"Oh! I love peanut...Ahh!" Trixie laughed as Tara jumped at the trick snakes springing up in her face,

"Gotcha! Oh, that's a classic!"

"Trixie!" scolded Stephenie. Stingy handed Tara the last of the groceries and told her,

"Just so you know, I'm going to be King someday and this is beneath me."

"Well thank you anyway Stingy. Uh...Your Majesty? This receipt says I have five dollars and eighteen cents in change...where is it?" Tara asked taking out the recent.

"Stingy!" warned Stephanie. Stingy turned from them,

"MINE!"

"Kid...fork it over..." Tara said dryly holding out her hand. Stingy hesitated before taking the money out of his pocket and placing it in her palm. Tara nodded, "Thank you." Pixel poked his head out of the office and called,

"Tara! I'm done with your computer!" Tara went in there followed by the rest of the kids saying,

"Great! Now maybe I can...what the heck did you do to my computer?" She had stopped short at seeing the once simple PC replaced by a sophisticated flat screen hanging on the wall and a complicated keyboard on the desktop.

"I upgraded it for you! Now you have one million Gigabytes, DVD/CD drive with an additional zip drive and UB jump drive and a fingerprint identification system for security. Now it's Pixeliscious!" Pixel explained.

"Well...that's above and beyond the call of duty. Thank you." Tara said trying to figure out where the on button was.

"No problem. Want me to show you the new Space Ninja Conquerers game I installed for you?" Pixel asked.

"No...not right now. Actually I think that's all I need from you kids today. So why don't you go into the kitchen and find yourselves a snack and then you are free to go out and play?" Tara suggested.

"Ooh! Ooh! We bought plenty of Sports-candy at the store everyone! Come on!" Ziggy exclaimed leading the way.

"Sports-candy?" Tara asked Stephanie following her out.

"That's what Sportacus calls fruits and vegetables." Stephanie explained. Tara nodded,

"Ah! How very after school program of him!"

"Huh?" asked Stephanie.

"Nothing kid." Tara said.

* * *

Up in his airship, Sportacus was just about finished with his exercises, sweat dripping off his face. He was doing one arm push ups and grunting out,

"Two-thousand eight...two thousand nine...two thousand ten!" He laid on the floor with a satisfied look on his face as he caught his breath. He sat up and took off his cap and goggles revealing dirty blond curls that went down past his ears and fell into his eyes. He rolled heels over head in a flip to his feet and declared,

"There! I feel much better! Woo! I better take a shower!" He did three front flips to a control panel, punched a few buttons and a door opened revealing a bathroom. A shoot for a hamper appeared and he tossed in his sweaty cap quickly followed by his jacket and shirt. He took his arm cuffs off and threw them in, followed by the blue boots he pried off his feet. Finally, he peeled off his pants and underwear and threw them in the hamper where it closed, sending all the dirty clothes to the laundry where it would all automatically become crisp and clean. He stepped into the shower and commanded the voice activated system,

"Shower! On!" The water began to run and Sportacus began to wet his hair instantly feeling cooled off from such a great workout. But as he began to let his mind drift, suddenly, he felt a pair of silken hands come up around from behind him and begin to wash him. He still had his eyes closed and for a moment just enjoyed the sensation of the warm water and the soft touch of the hands on his broad chest. Then the deep, silky voice of Tara whispered in his ear, her breath tickling his neck,

"See you around...Sport..." He snapped his eyes open and jumped to the back wall of the shower, realizing he was all alone. He ran a hand through his hair. Now he was imagining things? It all felt so real. What was happening to him?

"Shower! Off!" he commanded as the water turned off. He got out of the shower and dried himself, pushing a button on the wall where a clean new set of clothes hung up waiting to be put on. He dressed, fixed his mustache and dried his hair before tucking it under his cap and walking out the bathroom. He straightened up his bed and then with a frustrated growl in his throat stomped over to the hatch deciding maybe a good run around Lazytown would clear his head.

* * *

"Thank you for stopping by with the last of the papers, Miss Busybody." Tara said to the older woman picking up the coffee cups from the table. The silver haired, fashionable lady smiled,

"Think nothing of it dear! Oh and please...call me Bessie!"

"Sure thing." Tara nodded washing the few dishes in the sink.

"Oh...where did you get that beautiful painting?" Bessie asked standing from couch and walking over to the painting that laid against the wall, not hung up on a nail.

"That's one of mine. I guess you could say I'm an artist." Tara said drying her hands.

"Oh...then why come to Lazytown? Surely this belongs in a museum in the big city!" Bessie asked. Coming over to look at the painting herself, Tara sighed,

"Not according to the museum in the big city."

"Oh dear I'm sorry. Well I don't care what those snobs said. I think it's gorgeous. Can I buy it from you?" Bessie asked. Tara smiled,

"Do you really want it?"

"Of course! It will look perfect in my living room! How much will you take for it?" asked Bessie pulling out her checkbook.

"Oh I don't know...Two hundred dollars?" offered Tara. Writing an amount, Bessie ripped out the check and handed it to her saying,

"I'll give you five hundred! Oh! To think I own an original work of art! I can't wait to show the Mayor! Maybe I can ask him to help me put it up. Which reminds me...how are you going to arrange all this furniture by yourself?" Looking around at the ill-placed furniture, some still covered in protective cloth, Tara said with a little grin on her face,

"Well...Sportacus 10 already offered to help me move the heavy stuff..." Bessie smiled knowingly,

"Ohh! You lucky girl! Ah! You and I are the only single women in town and he's too young for me, but...woof!" Tara giggled as Bessie went on, "Most of the women in town are the mothers of the Kids and happily married, but I know there has not been one of them who doesn't enjoy watching him perform his moves and working out! The man is perfect! Why...why there he is now!" Tara turned her head to look out the bay windows to see Sportacus running by. She and Bessie went to the front door and opened it looking out. Tara noticed with a smile that other women who happened to be outside like the female postal worker, a lady hanging laundry and one just standing outside were all gaping at the handsome man as he ran down the street, sweet dripping off his head and biceps, a thin line of moisture wetting his shirt front bringing attention to his board shoulders and chest.

"I see what you mean." Tara replied smiling appreciatively. Bessie sighed,

"The girl who catches him will be very lucky. He loves children, he has a great and noble job, and he's an absolute doll! On top of him being gorgeous!"

"Yeah...they don't make them like him anymore do they?" Tara asked keeping her eyes on the firm backside and the wide back as it ran away from them. Bessie called out,

"Hello Sportacus!" He turned back, smiled and waved,

"Hello Bessie!"

"Hey Sportacus!" called Tara. He turned back again with a slight panic to his face,

"Tara?...How...Oof!" Everyone watching gasped as he ran into a lamppost backwards. He didn't hit it too hard, for he recovered and quickly took off. As the mail lady talked to the laundry lady and the other mother, Bessie said to Tara with a look akin to shock,

"That's never happened before!" Suspiciously, Tara said watching his form disappear round the corner,

"So I've been told..."

* * *

That night, Tara shut off all the lights in her house getting ready for bed. She loved her new house. It had a living room with a open kitchen off to the side, and a door led to her office. Another door led to a hallway that yielded a downstairs bathroom, and a set of stairs. Up the stairs was her bedroom and bathroom, both large and grand with an open balcony. Besides the bedroom was another room with a balcony which she planned to use as a painting room, seeing as to how it got the best light. Both balconies connected to a wonderful garden which she hoped to upkeep and plant her own little touches. She retired to her bedroom and changed into a red nightgown and robe. She opened the French doors to the balcony and leaned against the door frame taking in the cool summer breeze. She smiled at all the stars in the sky and at the sight of a certain blue airship hanging overhead.

_They sure don't have guys like Sportacus 10 back in the city! Now I'm really glad I came here! Maybe...just maybe it will finally be a home. A real home. Not just a place I lived with impassive neighbors and rent control but with friends and fun...'_She thought. She cast her eyes up to the airship and added aloud,

"And maybe a little romance!" And with that, she stepped inside and shut the doors for the night.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, The sun began to rise and the warmth of summer streamed into the portholes of the airship hanging in the the sky over the sleepy little burg. Sportacus was sleeping peacefully, when Tara rolled over next to him and wrapped her arms around him. She rubbed his chest and down his abdomen, before kissing his shoulder and whispering,

"Hey Sportacus!" Sportacus snapped his eyes open and sprang up into a sitting position, only to find once again, he was alone and it had all been a dream. He sat in bed a moment, hanging his head in his hands,

"I can't stop thinking about her..." He looked to the clock, "And I overslept! What am I going to do?"

* * *

"What are we going to do about Sportacus? My mom told me that she saw him ran into a lamp post yesterday!" said Trixie as the Kids all sat in the park.

"I know! And some people have been seeing him tripping all over the place and looking positively silly!" said Stingy.

"And he's always trying to act like nothing happened and he goes on. Something's not right." Pixel said with a shake of his head. Sitting on the bench, Stephanie said,

"I know. But unless he asks for help I don't think we should interfere."

"Inter...Interfere? If friends see their friends acting weird, they step in before something is really wrong! That's what Sportacus would do!" Ziggy objected. Seeing the ladder bringing Sportacus down, Stephanie pointed and said,

"Look! There's Sportacus now!"

"He looks like he just flipped out of bed! Do you think he overslept?" asked Trixie.

"I think we should talk to Uncle Milford. He's at Miss Busybody's house hanging a painting." Stephanie said leading the way. They found the two adults in Miss Busybody's living room, with the Major holding up a colorful abstract painting. He kept moving a little back and forth as Miss Busybody scrutinized the placement and said,

"Noo...a little more to the right I think...no no! Too far! Now it's too far the other way!"

"Miss Busybody, I don't mean to sound impatient, but...we've been doing this for twenty eight minutes." interrupted the Mayor.

"Well Major I'm just trying to find the perfect spot so that when I show the painting to all of my friends they'll be green with envy!" laughed Bessie. The Mayor sighed,

"Very well then." Stephanie walked in followed by the other children and asked her uncle,

"Uncle Milford, Miss Busybody, can we talk to you for a minute?"

"Can it wait dear? We're busy with something." Bessie asked gently.

"No it can't. We're worried about Sportacus." Stephanie said.

"Sportacus! What's wrong? Did he accidentally have sugar and has lost his energy?" asked the Mayor in concern.

"No...but...he's been tripping and being very clumsy lately." Trixie said.

"Oh yes! I've noticed that too, Mayor!" said Bessie. Putting the painting down, the Mayor replied,

"Alright everyone, calm down. Now tell me everything from the beginning."

"Well I guess it all started yesterday when Tara moved in." said Pixel.

"Oh yes! Of course, Tara...who's Tara?" asked the Major.

"She's the artist who moved in down the street. Lovely girl!" Bessie told him.

"Yeah, we were all watching her move in and Sportacus was trying to get us to stop being nosy, when Tara pulled up on her motorcycle. Right after she took off her helmet, Sportacus fell out of the tree and into a bush!" Ziggy said excitingly.

"Really?" exclaimed the Mayor.

"Really..." said Bessie in curiosity.

"Yeah and when we introduced ourselves to Tara, Sportacus was all nervous and he was looking at Tara funny." Stingy said.

"Interesting...tell me children...Did Sportacus ask Tara if she was married?" said Bessie.

"Yeah! How did you know?" asked Stephanie as the other kids nodded.

"Yes...how did you know Miss Busybody?" asked the Mayor clueless. Bessie smiled,

"Just a hunch! Go on children."

"Well...then we all offered to help Tara, but Sportacus was busy so he said goodbye, but then he tripped over a wall!" said Pixel.

"At first we thought it was a joke, but everybody has been talking about how he keeps running into things and tripping." Trixie said.

"It's true Mr. Mayor. I saw it yesterday when Sportacus ran into a lamppost." said Bessie.

"My my my! I wonder what could be troubling the poor boy! I hope it's not another pair of remote control boots!" said the Mayor.

"Don't you know Uncle?" asked Stephanie.

"Well...uh...I...not really no..." muttered the Mayor. Bessie smiled,

"I think I do..."

"You do?" exclaimed the Mayor and the Kids. Bessie nodded,

"Call it...Woman's intuition...but I do believe Sportacus 10 is smitten with Tara Trueheart." The Mayor gasped and Ziggy asked,

"What's...smit-ten...mean?"

"Well...it's a feeling grownups get when they...like like...another person..." Milford looked to Bessie's face, "They think about that person all the time...how...nice they are...how...beautiful they are...how they leave a little peppermint stick in his coffee every morning before he starts off to run the city...ah...uh...hypothetically speaking of course." finished the Mayor flustered. Bessie nodded obliviously and declared,

"In other words children...Sportacus is falling in love!"

"LOVE!" chorused the Kids in shock. Watching through an open window through a pair of binoculars, Robbie Rotten exclaimed,

"LOVE! That big blue elf is in love?...BLECK! YECK! YUCKY! FOOEY!" Then a slow, evil grin spread onto Robbie's face, darkening it, "Perfect...I know just what to do...HA HA HA HA HA! I'M A GENIUS! Opp!" He recovered from his shouting, hoping no one heard him, before sneaking back down to his lair.

* * *

Tara went towards the mailbox, a rolled up letter in one hand, a booklet titled, "WELCOME TO LAZYTOWN! EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK". She skipped ahead of the chapters about the history of Lazytown and the Mayor's ten page life story to read the chapter 'WHEN YOU NEED A HERO'. She read aloud,

"When in the case of extreme emergency, Sportacus 10 will be alerted to your distress when his emblem crystal blinks...Cool beans...If however, on the occasion where you just need his help for matters of lesser importance, simply write him a quick note, place it in his special post shoot by the town mailbox, pull the lever and it will shoot up into the sky to his airship.' Sounds simple enough." She tucked the booklet under her arm and placed the letter in the capsule. She put the capsule in place and then pulled the lever, watching in awe as it shot up into the sky.

It went up, up, up to the airship where it popped up out of the floor of the ship. Seeing mail had come in, Sportacus twirled around twice on his overhead swing, did three back flips and then caught the letter with ease near his table.

"I got mail!" he proclaimed opening it. His face turned blank upon seeing who it was from, "From Tara!" he backed into a chair and accidentally sat down, "...Whoa...sigh...now I'm even being a klutz in my own ship...Well...I don't care! Tara asked for my help and she will certainly get it!" And with that, he tossed the letter aside and jumped up into the air, twirling 360 degrees to where the crank for the fins was, turned it, and then doing three front flips, he landed in his console. He began to pedal towards Tara's house with lightning speed.

Down on the ground, Tara was applying makeup and brushing her hair really quick in front of her entrance way vanity, praying that she could use this opportunity to it's fullest. Back up in the air, Sportacus slowed the airship above Tara's house and then flipped out of his seat yelling,

"Sky chaser!" A pod-like device with pedals dropped from the bottom of the airship as Sportacus yelled out again,

"Door!" A door opened up and lowered itself on the side of the ship as with three more leaps and flips Sportacus jumped off the door like a diving board and did a short free fall until he caught up with the Sky chaser and started to pedal down to the ground. Tara peeked out the window and smiled seeing the superhero coming in for a landing. She went back to the mirror and adjusted her chest a little just as Sportacus landed, somersaulting his way over to the front door and ringing the doorbell. Tara picked up a bottle of perfume and sprayed behind her neck and wrists and once down her shirt front for good measure, before tucking the bottle behind her back and opening the door with a friendly smile,

"Sportacus! Hi. I'm glad you could come!" Sportacus hesitated but for a second before smiling and replying,

"No problem. I'm always happy to help!"

"Won't you come in?" she asked stepping aside. Sportacus ducked his head to let himself in the door, allowing Tara to reflect on how wonderfully tall he was. Sportacus took the moment to look around her house and release a nervous breath he was holding as Tara continued, "I hope I'm not asking too much to just have you move around my furniture. But movers are never patient enough to wait for a woman to make up her mind!"

"Oh no I completely understand. So...where should we start?" asked Sportacus. Going over to a red club chair, Tara said as she began to pick up one end,

"Well I'd like this chair to go over in that corner by the win..." She was interrupted by Sportacus lifting the chair out of her arms with ease and holding it up with only one hand, "...dow..." She finished amazed at his strength. Sportacus pointed and asked,

"Over there?" Tara nodded meekly as Sportacus walked across the room to put the chair down. _I may like him because he's cute...I may want to date him because he's helpful...but man give me two minutes alone with that body of his!_ Tara thought to herself wickedly. Then with a sly grin she realized she had more than two minutes.


	4. Chapter 4

**_A/N: It has come to the Lazytown Chronicle's attention that the story of Sportacus relationship with Tara Trueheart has won the praise of a wonderful reviewer by the name of Rubber Ducky1. If more readers are to review was unknown at presstime. The Author was quoted saying, 'PLEASE! PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF MIKE REVIEW!" _**

**_The author went on to say that she does not own Lazytown or it's characters and this story is for entertainment purposes only._**

* * *

In the dark and dank lair of Robbie Rotten, the villain was bent over his chemistry table hard at work on his latest scheme.

"Now! That's the truffle, move it over there...the nougat goes here and viola! A perfection of sugary confection!" he exclaimed over a tray of assorted chocolates. As if he had someone to talk to, the mad genius ranted on, "Now I know what you're thinking! 'What's a tray of yummy candy got to do with getting rid of Sporta-kook?' Well I'll tell ya!" He pushed a button on a remote control and a chalkboard with crude, childish drawings detailing his master plan descended from the ceiling. He took out a pointer and well...pointed to the plan, "FIRST! In another one of my brilliant disguises...I convince Sportacus to give Tara a box of chocolates to show his...affection...Yuck! THEN! I have Sportacus try one of the chocolates to make sure it's right for Tara! He goes into Sugar Meltdown and with any luck...he'll be finished! HA HA HA HA HA! Ah...I know...Sportacus wouldn't give anyone anything unhealthy let alone try something with sugar in it! BUT! By concealing the tray of chocolates in a box labeled "SUGAR FREE", Sporta-dope will think it's safe to at least try one! I"M A GENIUS! HAHAHAHAHAHA! Disguise time!"He dashed over to the glass cases displaying his disguises and he walked by each one saying,

"Too Greek...too Italian...Too Chinese...AhHA! Perfect!" He went over to a lever and pulled it and in a flash of white light he was dressed in the clothes of a typical Frenchman, with black and white striped shirt, handlebar mustache, red beret, black sports jacket and a pair of bluejeans rolled up into cuffs at the bottom. He laughed to himself, "With this getup and this plan, Sporta-sucker won't know what hit 'em! Ah HAHAHAHAHA!"

* * *

The kids were playing catch, but only haphazardly since they were still trying to sort out what they had learned from Miss Busybody.

"Wow...I can't believe Sportacus is in love." said Trixie throwing the Frisbee ring to Pixel who said,

"I don't think he's in love yet...our data shows that the variables are just in the beginning processes." He threw the ring to Ziggy who asked,

"What?" Ziggy threw the Frisbee to Stephanie who said,

"It means he only likes-like Tara...it's not totally in love yet." She threw the ring to Stingy as he told Pixel,

"You know Pixel, sometimes you're really weird."

"Hey! I am not weird for knowing the difference between like-like and love!" Pixel protested as Trixie caught the ring and asked him snottingly,

"Oh really? Then what's the difference?" Pixel looked over at Stephanie and mumbled as he caught the ring,

"I just know it okay?" Ziggy said catching the ring,

"Well...I want Sportacus to stop like-liking Tara or loving her or whatever! It's keeping him from being a cool superhero!"

"I don't know...in all eight hundred and twenty eight comic books I own...all the great superheros had a girlfriend...Spiderman had Mary Jane...Superman had Lois Lane...maybe it would be good for Sportacus to have a girlfriend." Stingy said with a shrug. Stephanie nodded,

"Stingy's right! And it would make Sportacus really happy. And as his friends shouldn't we want Sportacus to be happy?" Ziggy considered it, worrying the ring in his hands,

"Well...I do want Sportacus to be happy..."

"Wait a minute! How could Sportacus even make Tara his girlfriend? He's too shy to make a move! Literally!" Trixie said hands on hips.

"Maybe...we could get them together..." suggested Pixel.

"Could we! I mean...should we?" asked Ziggy excitingly.

"Well...maybe we can encourage Sportacus to show Tara he really likes her! Come on everybody! Let's go find him!" said Stephanie leading the way.

"Yeah! Yeah!"

"Cool!"

"Wait for me! Wait for me!" said Ziggy in last. Unknowingly, Robbie Rotten was watching them from his periscope down below grinning,

"Perfect! Those rotten kids are going to encourage Sporta-flunky to show Tara how he feels! I couldn't have planned things better myself! Now I just have to wait! HAHA!" he went to snap the periscope shut, only to have it catch on his fingers again.

"OWWEEIII!"

* * *

Tara was trying to remember how to breath. Right now she was sitting in one of her club chairs watching Sportacus lift the heavy couch to the spot near the fireplace. _His biceps rippling, his pecs are bulging...Lord can this man get anymore studly or what?_ Tara thought to her self cocking an eyebrow. Sportacus put down the couch and said taking a breath,

"Whoo! There you go. How's that?" Tara nodded,

"It looks great...but now I'm not so sure I want this chair here...maybe over by the tab-AHH!" Before she knew it, Sportacus had lifted her and the chair and carried it over to the spot she had indicated. Sportacus grinned, looking up at her,

"Over here?" Tara laughed shaking her head,

"Yes now put me down!" Sportacus did laughing too saying,

"Sorry...just fooling around." Getting up and walking over to the kitchen, Tara asked,

"Hungry?"

"Famished! Have to keep up my energy." Sportacus said going to lean on her counter. Tara pulled out two water bottles and two peaches saying,

"Sorry all I have are..."

"Sports-candy! My favorite!" Sportacus exclaimed biting into the peach, juice dribbling down his arm. Tara watched transfixed as he licked it off and kept eating happily. He looked up at her apologetically,

"...Messy..." Opening her water bottle, Tara said,

"So...are you a vegetarian or what?"

"No...I have meat and dairy sometimes...but I love fruits and vegetables. And calling them Sports-candy helps the kids to like them too." he explained after he had finished chewing. Tara shook her head,

"Where on Earth do you come from?"

"An island in the North." Sportacus answered.

"Really? Is that where you were born?" she asked.

"No." Sportacus said shaking his head before taking another bite.

"Is that where you grew up?" she asked.

"Mostly. I went to live there with my mentor when I was twelve." Sportacus answered.

"Your mentor?"

"Sportacus Nine...He taught me everything I know!" Sportacus said.

"Wait...does that mean Sportacus isn't your real name?" asked Tara. Sportacus shifted nervously,

"Not the one I was born with...but I can't tell you what that is."

"Why not?"

"It's a superhero thing." he answered. Knowing that subject matter was closed, Tara asked,

"So how long did you live with your mentor?"

"Ten years. Then for four years, I went around the world helping people...and then last year...I settled down here!" Sportacus explained.

"So that makes you twenty-seven?" Tara asked folding her arms,

"This October yes." Sportacus answered.

"Guess that means you've met all kinds of women..."Tara commented intently. Sportacus nodded,

"Oh yes. All kinds. Some tall, some short... some with black skin, some Asian women...Sure was different from the island!"

"How so?" nodded Tara.

"There was no women on the island. Just me and Sportacus Nine." said Sportacus. Tara furrowed her brow as Sportacus threw away his peach pit and then started to open his water bottle. She inquired,

"Can I ask you a personal question?"

"Sure." he said taking a drink.

"Have you ever seen any women...romantically?" she asked to which Sportacus promptly did a spit take. She got him a towel as he replied meekly,

"Um...in what way?" Tara grinned leaning towards him and lowering her voice,

"Oh you know...taking her out on dates...dinner...dancing in the moonlight...holding hands...whispering sweet nothings in one's ear...hugging...kissing...and then some?" Sportacus gulped and said looking down,

"I've never done any of those things..." Tara shook her head, leaning in closer,

"Never?" Unable to look away from her eyes, Sportacus said,

"Not once!" She smiled stepping back to hand him the towel to which he mumbled a small, 'Thank you.' _Never been involved with a woman? Oh, this guy is too good to be true!_ Tara thought. Then a thought occurred to her to make her cautious.

"Um...have you...ever considered...seeing a woman...romantically?" she asked. Sportacus thought about it and said,

"I've never given it much thought before. But Sportacus Nine told me about what it was like to be in love with a woman. He said it felt wonderful. So yes...I guess I would like to see a woman romantically...someday..." A small grin came to Tara's face, _And we're in!_ Extremely nervous now, Sportacus cleared his throat and asked her,

"So...where do you come from?" _Maybe I'm not as 'in' as I thought I was..._Tara thought before replying,

"Further down South."

"And what do you do for a job?" he asked.

"I'm a painter." she said.

"Oh? And what do you paint?" he asked. She took his hand, sending those unfamiliar tingles down his spine as she led him down the hall and up the stairs.

"Follow me." Sportacus gulped a little as they passed her bedroom. She showed him into her painting room, all fixed up with canvases and paints, finished works hanging on the walls.

"I paint my dreams." she responded as Sportacus looked around. Every painting was abstract splashes of bright beautiful color. Sportacus told her while looking at one in bright reds, oranges, and yellows,

"Wow! These are really well done. You are an amazing artist!"

"Thank you...Not sure if I can say that myself, but thank you." she said looking at the painting besides him, arms folded in front of her chest. Sportacus furrowed his brow at her,

"Why do you say that?" She shook her head,

"None of my paintings were considered good enough to be put on display in a museum or on sale in an art gallery in the big city. I don't know maybe I wasn't good enough." He looked her squarely in the face, as seriously as he could be,

"Don't ever say that again. You are more than good enough. You're wonderful. As a person and as an artist! Understand?" She smiled, captured by his commanding presence that made her feel so safe,

"Yes sir." Sportacus smiled and pointed to the painting,

"So...does this have a title?" She waited for a beat and then replied,

"Kiss of Passion." Sportacus cleared his throat,

"Pardon?" She grinned like a cat with a canary,

"The title of the piece...is 'Kiss of Passion'." Suddenly, Sportacus pictured himself grabbing Tara by the shoulders and kissing her, then sweeping her off her feet into her bedroom. He shook his scandalous thoughts and said,

"I should...get going." She nodded a little disappointed but not wanting to rush things she said,

"I'll walk you to the door." They traveled down the stairs in silence until they reached the front door. Upon opening it, Tara said,

"Thank you for helping me Sportacus."

"You're welcome. Thanks for the sports-candy...and the company." Sportacus replied with a slight blush.

"So I'll see you around?" she asked.

"Count on it! And remember, if you ever need help, I'll always be there!" he told her.

"See you later Sportacus!" she smiled at him.

"See you later Tara." he said before turning and running up to jump her white picket fence. She giggled and shook her head as she shut the door. Sportacus stopped in his place and turned back to look at her house with a sweet sigh.

"Sportacus! Sportacus!" called Stephanie from behind him. He turned to find all the kids running towards him.

"What's wrong? Is someone in trouble?" he asked fists on hips. Out of breath, Pixel said,

"No...no we just wanted to talk to you, Sportacus." Relived nothing was wrong, Sportacus asked,

"Oh? What about?"

"It's about Tara." Stingy said matter of factly.

"Tara? What about her?" Sportacus asked innocently.

"Well Miss Busybody said that you were smitten with her and then I said, "What's smitten mean?" And then the Mayor said, "It was a feeling grownups get when they like-like another person and..." Ziggy rambled on. Stephanie stopped him saying,

"What Ziggy is trying to say is...we know you have feelings for Tara."

"What! You...you could tell that?" asked Sportacus in shock.

"My dog knew." Trixie said dryly.

"You don't have a dog." Stingy said.

"It's a figure of speech." Trixie told him.

"Anyway! Yes, Sportacus. We know you like-like Tara...you do don't you?" asked Stephanie. Sportacus looked to the ground in thought,

"I guess I just haven't admitted it to myself until now."

"So what are you going to do about it?" asked Pixel.

"I don't know. I've never felt this way before." said Sportacus with a shrug.

"Well, maybe you can do something to show her how you feel." Stephanie suggested to him.

"Like what?" he asked.

"Well, whenever my mom wants to show me how she loves me...she always brings home some red licorice!" Ziggy said.

"And my mom loves it when I give her flowers!" said Trixie.

"And my dad once bought my mom a new satellite dish and ordered the Soap Opera channel for her!...And the Sports Network for himself..." said Pixel.

"So maybe if you give her something or do something nice for her, she'll know how you feel!" Stingy said. Rubbing his chin, Sportacus gave it some thought,

"You know...I think you're on to something!"

"We can help you!" exclaimed Stephanie.

"Yeah! Yeah!" said Ziggy.

"Thanks a lot kids, but...I think I better do this one by myself. But if I need help, I'll call for you, okay?" Sportacus asked.

"Okay...we know Tara will love anything you give her!" Stephanie told him.

"Thanks Stephanie!" Sportacus told her as she gave him an encouraging hug.

"Bye Sportacus!"

"Bye!"

"Bye bye!" called the kids as they went off to play. Sportacus waved,

"Bye kids!" Then he thought aloud to himself, "Get Tara something?...But what?" Down the street, Robbie Rotten, in full French disguise watched Sportacus from a bush as he muttered to himself,

"Now's my chance!" He hopped on a bicycle and began to pedal singing,

"Fraire-e-jack-ah! Fraire-jack-ah! Dorm-A-view! Dorm-A-view! Uh...something something French! Something something French! Ding dang dong! Ding dang...do-ahh! Aahhh! AAAHHHH!" The bike had began to speed down the hill out of control and since Robbie Rotten had been too lazy to learn how to ride a bike properly, he was unable to stop it and the bike was on a direct path to a wall. The crystal emblem on Sportacus' uniform began to blink and he was shaken from his revelry saying,

"Somebody's in trouble!" Robbie whizzed passed him on the bike screaming like a little girl. "Somebody's in real trouble! Hang on! I'm coming!" Sportacus took off into a run, jumped two walls, did three flips, two somersaults, jumped two more walls before jumping up to grab onto a branch of a tree. He swung over it once, twice, three times before he flipped in the air and caught the branch again with his knees. He hung upside down, waiting for Robbie as he told him,

"Grab my arms!" Too scared to think twice, Robbie reached up and grabbed the superhero's arms letting the bike go just in time to crash into a wall. Sportacus let Robbie drop to the ground, while he flipped out of the tree, landing on the ground to help him up.

"Are you alright sir?" Sportacus asked fooled by Robbie's disguise. Robbie huffed out of breath,

"Yeah..yeah I'm fine..." then he remembered his plan and broke out into a huge grin and an incredibly bad French accent, "I mean...MAY OUI! I am, 'ow you zay? Zaved! Merci Monzewer! Merci!" He kissed both of Sportacus' cheeks in French custom before turning his back and gagging silently. Sportacus smiled friendly,

"It was no problem sir."

"'Ow can I, 'ow you zay? Repay you?" asked the 'Frenchman'.

"Oh I'm only happy to help!" Sportacus said.

"You zure zere iz...nothin' I can help vou with? Maybe with ze...ladiez...prehapz?" Frenchman Robbie offered. Looking back to Tara's house, Sportacus said,

"Well...I am looking to show one lady how much I like her..." The Frenchman opened his arms out wide and exclaimed,

"Magnifi-ekk! Vou have come to ze right fellow, Mon Ami! For I am Ro'bear ZeFancypantz, a world renouned expert on...la'mour!"

"La'mour?" asked Sportacus.

"You know, ze love Mon Ami! Juzt lizten...to moi!" said 'Ro'bear before singing out,

"**_When zere iz a zpecial...lady...you adore!_**

_**When you are too zhy to move...or look up from...ze floor!**_

_**Zhen you need zome 'elp...**_

_**before...someone...elze...**_

_**decidez to open ze window...**_

_**when you won't open ze...door!**_

_**When you want to, show 'er 'ow you feel, **_

_**when you want to, 'ow you zay? Keep it real!**_

_**Juzt lizten to me! With my muztache that I curl...**_

_**I'll zhow you! How to get...ze...girl! **_

_**Ze French, zey, know 'ow it'z done. **_

_**With ze candlelight, moonlight, and zen zome!**_

_**We are loverz, not fighters, **_

_**kizzerz, not biterz!**_

_**When you need a little confidance, **_

_**I'll zhow you ow' to romance!**_

_**When you want to, show 'er 'ow you feel, **_

_**when you want to, how you zay? Keep it real!**_

_**Juzt lizten to me! With my muztache that I curl...**_

_**I'll zhow you! How to get...ze...girl! **_

_**Now ze female, ahh...zhe iz, 'ow you zay? Fickle...**_

_**She wantz diamondz and pearlz, **_

_**flowerz and ztuffed ani-malz**_

_**If zhe don't get all of zheze zings, **_

_**if you don't, treat 'er like a queen**_

_**Zhen you're in ze...pickel!**_

_**When you want to, show 'er 'ow you feel, **_

_**when you want to, how you zay? Keep it real!**_

_**Juzt lizten to me! With my muztache that I curl...**_

_**I'll zhow you! How to get...ze...girl! **_

_**I really mean it! I'll zhow you how to get...ze...girl!**_

_**One more time!**_

**_I'll zhow you how to get...ze...girl!_**"

"I don't know..." Sportacus said when the song was finished, "Tara doesn't seem like the kind of person who would only give affection in exchange for expensive gifts."

"Who'z ze a'mour expert 'ere? Moi or vou?" Ro'bear said.

"I just met her! I don't want things to move...too fast!" Sportacus explained. 'Ro'bear' nodded,

"Ah! Zhen I zink I 'ave juzt ze zing! It'z not...how you zay? Too personal...but! It will let her know, you care for her!" He pulled out of his coat the small heart shaped box of chocolates to which Sportacus protested,

"Oh no...while a little chocolate is alright every once in a while, I just don't give unhealthy gifts."

"Oh! But ze femalez...zey...LOVE ze chocolate!" 'Ro'bear' told him.

"Zey do? I mean...they do?" Sportacus asked.

"But of courze! Bezides...zez...are zugar...free..." 'Ro'bear' said taking the top off the box and placing it under Sportacus' nose.

"Sugar free huh? Well...that's healthier..." Sportacus said.

"Why don't you try one?" suggested 'Ro'bear' with a wicked glint to his eye.

"Try one?"

"Oui...to make zure ze young lady likez zem! Go on...try juzt...one..." the 'Frenchman' said handing him the box. Sportacus took one out and looked to the man and asked,

"You're sure...these are sugar free?"

"It zayz zo on ze box!" 'Ro'bear said showing him the top of the box which read, 'SUGAR FREE'. Sportacus nodded,

"Okay..." he took a small bite and chewed saying, "Hmm! Not bad..." Suddenly, Sportacus collapsed to the ground in a heap, groaning.

"HAHA! Oh wait...maybe I just put the sugary chocolates in the 'SUGAR FREE' chocolates box! Opps! HAHAHAHAHA!" Robbie shouted taking off his false mustache. Getting on his knees, Sportacus groaned out weakling as he clutched his stomach,

"...Robbie..."

"That's right! And don't you forget it! Sporta-wimp! HAHAHAHAHA!" Robbie exclaimed walking away. A second later he came back and took the box up from the ground and said,

"I can't stand to waste good chocolate!" He walked away leaving Sportacus to try to crawl and call weakly,

"...Tara..."


	5. End of Part I

**_A/N: Our first story has to do with the first reviewer of this series of stories, rubberducky1. It came to the Lazytown Chronicle's attention that she said some incredibly kind words about the story. And so we at the Lazytown Chronicle would like to encourage 'BJ' as she is also called, to make her dreams come true and to follow her own path._**

**_In a recent interview with the Author, the Lazytown Chronicle has learned this is the end of Part I in this series of stories. The Author will take a short vacation for Spring Break and then she will return to fan fiction . net to bring us more about the developing relationship between Tara Trueheart and Sportacus 10. She also says she will update her other fan fiction on fan fiction . net shortly before she leaves on Saturday. She thanks everyone for reading and for their patience. The Author wishes to remind everyone that she does not own 'Lazytown' and it's characters and she certainly does not own the song posted at the end of the story and that it was made available in the public domain on the Internet. She was quoted saying, _**

**_"Read and Review!_**

**_peace, love and lipgloss, _**

**_Mlle. Fox" _**

* * *

Tara was cleaning up her kitchen, when she happened on the towel Sportacus had used earlier. She smiled at the memory when the doorbell rang. She crossed over to open it only to gasp when Sportacus fell at her feet.

"Sportacus! Oh my gosh! Sportacus! Are you alright?" She bent over him to which he weakly whispered,

"...Tara..."

"Come on! Let's get you to the couch!" Tara said putting his arm over her shoulder. She tried to lift him, but his weight pulled her to the ground with him. Getting up and bracing herself, Tara muttered sarcastically, "Boy you do workout don't you?" She managed to get to her feet, dragging him over to the couch that he had placed there only minutes ago. She dumped him on the couch out of breath, before lifting his feet up and placing a pillow behind his head. "Sportacus? Sportacus...I'm going to call a doctor." She tried to get up, but his hand clutched her wrist,

"...No...doctor..."

"But..."

"...No Tara..." Sportacus said out of breath. Tara nodded reluctantly,

"Okay Sportacus...I'm going to go get a cool washcloth okay?" He nodded a little and let her rush to the kitchen. She got the washcloth, ran it under the cold water before rushing back over. She pulled the cap off his head, surprised at the dirty blond locks of hair, brown in the underlayers. She tried not to focus on how it fell into those kind blue eyes or how thick and wavy it was. Instead she asked him gentle wiping his hot face. "Sportacus? What happened? Come on Sportacus...talk to me..." Sportacus mumbled out,

"Sugar...meltdown..." Tara furrowed her brows together,

"What?"

"Need...sports...candy..." he said.

"Sports-candy? Sports-candy!" Tara exclaimed with understanding. She jumped up and rushed to her fridge, looking around for something he could chew, when she saw a bowl of grapes in the corner.

"Perfect!" she exclaimed taking it out and rinsing the grapes off really quick. She returned to the couch and lifted Sportacus' head up. She sat behind him, with his head in her lap telling him,

"Okay Sportacus...I'm going to feed you some grapes okay? Be cure to chew them up good. Here we go...chew Sportacus...chew." She popped the first grape in his mouth to which Sportacus parted his lips and took the grape from her fingers.

* * *

Down at the park, the kids were playing when the Major and Miss Busybudy walked up and the Mayor asked,

"Children! Children, have you seen Sportacus around? I need to talk to him about Saturday's soccer tournament."

"The last we saw of Sportacus he had just come from Tara's house." Stephanie answered.

"Then maybe Tara knows where he is. Come on Miss Busybody." said the Mayor.

"Right behind you Milford." said Bessie.

"Can we come too? We want to ask Sportacus to teach us some new moves for the game Saturday." asked Pixel.

"Of course children! Just follow me!" said the Mayor leading the way.

"Oh Milford! Milford, Tara's house is the other way." said Bessie.

"Oh...I knew that." said the Mayor blushing as the kids giggled. But soon, they came upon a sleeping Robbie Rotten with a half eaten box of chocolates lying on a bench.

"Oh my...it's Mr. Rotten!" said the Mayor.

"Wonder what he's doing out in daylight?" asked Trixie. Suddenly Robbie snorted awake and screamed at everyone staring at him,

"I didn't do anything!"

"Didn't do what?" asked Stingy. Robbie scoffed,

"Oh right! Like I'm going to tell you I tricked Sportacus into eating chocolate!" The others gasped, "Opps..." he finished.

"Chocolate! With sugar in them? Oh no!" said Ziggy.

"That means Sportacus is lying down somewhere having a meltdown!" exclaimed Pixel.

"Mr. Rotten, I'm very disappointed in you! Now where is Sportacus?" demanded the Mayor. Robbie laughed,

"Oh sure! I'm just going to blurt out that the last I saw of him was he was crawling back to Tara's house!...Opps again. Uh...bye!" He ran away leaving the others scared and very worried about the fate of their friend.

"Come on everyone! We have to go help Sportacus! Tara doesn't know about his Sugar Meltdowns!" said Stephanie running ahead while everyone followed behind.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sportacus was smiling as Tara kept feeding him grapes. He had gotten up to full strength a little while ago. And while he knew he should tell Tara this...he didn't want her to stop feeding him or running her fingers through his hair soothingly. And her lap was so comfortable. Maybe he should just have a few more grapes just to make sure he was 110.

"So every time someone gives you sugar...you collapse completely weakened?" Tara asked him.

"Mmm-hmm. Every time. It was a miracle I even got to your front door." he responded.

"Are you feeling any better?" she asked. He looked up at her beautiful face and smiled,

"Thanks to the company..." Tara blushed when The Kids burst in her front door followed by Bessie and the Mayor.

"Tara! Tara! Sportacus is..." Stephanie and the kids stopped short at seeing Sportacus' head in Tara's lap, lying on her couch as she fed him grapes. The Mayor came in,

"Oh! Sportacus is here!"

"Thank goodness!" gasped Bessie out of breath. Tara gently lifted Sportacus' head from her lap and stood saying,

"Yeah Robbie Rotten gave him some chocolate telling him it was sugar free. And something about a French accent and a bicycle..."

"Uh...yeah we found Robbie outside and he blurted out what he did to Sportacus." said Trixie.

"Some super-villain..." Tara mumbled.

"Well Sportacus how are you feeling, my boy?" asked the Mayor.

"I'm doing okay Mr. Mayor!" Sportacus nodded.

"Yeah, I've been feeding him grapes to get his strength back up." Tara explained as the others all furrowed their brows.

"You mean...you've already given him sports-candy?" asked Stephanie.

"Yeah...isn't that what's suppose to be done?" asked Tara turning her back to Sportacus and the couch to face them all.

"Well yes but..." started the Mayor when Sportacus sat up and silently tried to tell them to 'go away' with his hands. Bessie elbowed the Mayor saying,

"Oh course it is dear! We'll just leave you two alone to take care of things."

"But Sportacus is...mmmph!" Ziggy started only to have Stephanie clasp a hand over his mouth. She gave a small wink to Sportacus telling him she understood. Sportacus returned the wink thus making everyone else understand as well...except Ziggy. The Mayor said, hiding his humor badly,

"Yes! Yes! We'll just leave the two of you...all alone! Keep up the good work Miss Trueheart! Love what you've done with the place! Well,ta ta! Take care Sportacus!" They all left with Ziggy mumbling under Stephanie's hand,

"Bu Mmhahu eh uh mmph!" Tara shut the door after them and returned to the couch shaking her head,

"Wow...you sure have some great friends."

"They'll be your friends too in no time!" said Sportacus letting her lift his head to place it back in her lap. Picking another grape off, Tara said cocking an eyebrow,

"Yeah any friends that leave knowing you're better but helping you convince the pretty girl you're still weak are great friends to have." Sportacus snapped his eyes opened in a panic,

"What?" Tara pointed across the room to the vanity mirror across the way showing them reflected in the glass.

"I could see you Mr. Superhero." Sportacus winced and began to sat up,

"I guess I'll be going now." She pulled him back down by his shoulder,

"What's your rush?" Confused, he looked up at her,

"You're not mad?"

"Mmm...no...not really." Tara said shaking her head.

"What are you going to tell the others?" asked Sportacus. She leaned over his face, her hair falling over her shoulder as she popped another grape in. He stared transfixed into those green eyes of hers as she smiled and said dropping her voice to it's silken tone,

"I won't tell if you won't." Sportacus smiled and nodded silently concluding to himself that things were going to get really interesting around Lazytown from now on.

The End of Part 1

_**Bing Bang Diggly Dong  
First thing that I say after I wake up  
Bing Bang Diggly Dong  
I say those words before I go to sleep **_

Get on up it's time to dance yeah  
It's so much fun being up on our feet

So we go up up  
To the top  
Move around and clap your hands together  
Down down turn around  
Having fun is what it's all about

Bing Bang Diggly Dong  
Funny words I sing when I am dancing  
Bing Bang Diggly Dong  
Silly words that can mean anything

Get on up it's time to dance yeah  
It's so much fun being up on our feet

So we go up up  
To the top  
Move around and clap your hands together  
Down down turn around  
Having fun is what it's all about

Oh 1, 2 me and you  
Move around and clap your hands together  
3, 4 on the floor  
Having fun is what it's all about


	6. Chapter 6

**_A/N: The Editor of the Lazytown Chronicle here! With Part 2 of the continuing romance of Sportacus and Tara Trueheart. My sources say that this time, Robbie has another rotten plan, the kids have fun learning something new, part of Sportacus' past is revealed, and before they get closer, Sportacus and Tara will have to overcome a major obstacle._**

****

**_Recently, this story has gotten over 200 hits! But the Author asks that more people review. Again, the Author owns nothing but Tara Trueheart._**

* * *

Sportacus stepped out the door of his airship, and took out his spyglass to look around. He looked to a certain spot and saw a lady in red. Everything in his very being jolted at the sight of her.

"Tara!" he exclaimed with a smile. Then he furrowed his brows and looked again, seeing she was fumbling with her groceries. He nodded to himself and stood up straight yelling,

"Sky chaser!" The sleek pedal powered device dropped from the sky. Sportacus jumped off the door in a graceful swan dive before he caught up to the sky chaser and worked his way down. Meanwhile, Tara was trying to get her keys out of her pocket and keep a hold of her three bags, when she tripped on a wayward skateboard and was about to go flying,

"HEELLL" But her cry for help was cut off when she felt herself being held in someone's arm. She looked up to see the laughing blue eyes of the handsome hero.

"Sportacus!" she cried. Then she looked up to see her groceries flying over their heads and she gasped, " My groceries!" Sportacus looked up and told her,

"Hang on!" He righted her on her feet and then flipped in the air five time catching each bag and not dropping a thing when he landed back on the ground. He smiled at her and said,

"Allow me!" Taking her keys out of her pocket with an amused grin, Tara said making Sportacus blush,

"My hero."

* * *

_**Welcome to Lazytown**_

_**It's the start of a brand new day! **_

_**You'll meet Robbie with his rotten plan, **_

_**And Sportacus saving the day!**_

_**Stephanie is new in town, **_

_**and soon she and Ziggy are friends!**_

_**With Stingy, Pixel and Trixie too, **_

_**They're going to have a blast together!**_

_**Go go go! Get up Lazytown! **_

_**It's the start of a brand new day!**_

_**Things are upside down here in Lazytown, **_

_**Adventure's just a moment away...

* * *

**_

"_**I Won't Dance, Don't Ask Me!"**_

It was another beautiful day in Lazytown. Stephanie was writing in her diary when her uncle knocked and burst into her room.

"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!" he cried worriedly. Getting up from the bed, Stephanie asked concerned,

"What's wrong Uncle?"

"I think I may have unintentionally asked Miss Busybody out on a date!" Stephanie furrowed her brow,

"Uh...how can you unintentionally ask someone out on a date?" Wiping his forehead with his handkerchief, the Mayor replied,

"Oh believe me...it can happen!"

* * *

Major Meanswell thought back to earlier that day when he and Miss Busybody were working in his office at Town Hall. They were listening to music on the radio and Bessie was humming along before she sighed,

"Oh Milford! Isn't this a beautiful song?" She began to twirl around the office as the Mayor replied not listening,

"Hmm-mmm..."

"It just makes me want to dance!" said Bessie.

"Hmm-mmm..."

"Wouldn't it be lovely to go dancing Milford?" asked Bessie.

"Hmm-mmm..."

"Oh and the whole town could be there and everyone would wear nice clothes and dance under the stars..." Bessie said dreaming.

"Yes...wonderful idea Miss Busybody..." the Mayor said absentmindedly. Bessie stopped and exclaimed,

"You mean...I could plan a big fancy dance and invite the whole town?"

"Hmm...what?" asked the Mayor realizing what they were talking about.

"Oh! And we could have a dance contest! And you and I could be the judges! Oh Milford I have so much to do! I have to go shopping for a new dress, I have to hire a caterer, rent you a tux...Oh! It's going to be so much fun! I can't wait to call all my friends and tell them! Thank you for letting me do this Mr. Mayor!" Bessie said grabbing her purse and dashing out. The Mayor sat at his desk in a daze,

"Uh...you're welcome?...Oh dear..."

* * *

Stephanie broke him from his memories by saying,

"I don't think you asked her out Uncle. It sounds like you let Bessie plan a big party for the whole town!" The Major gasped,

"You're right! Oh...I hope we have enough in the town budget! I'd hate to raise taxes again!" He began to sigh and shake his head as Stephanie patted him comfortingly on the back.

* * *

Meanwhile, a periscope leading down to an underground lair allowed Robbie Rotten to see and hear everything Mayor Meanswell had just said.

"A dance! But that means dancing! And dancing means moving! Don't these people get the meaning of the word, 'lazy'? Grr!" He snapped his periscope shut and hoisted it up. He stomped down the stairs and began to pace, desperately trying to think of a plan.

"I have to stop them! But how? Convince them dancing is bad for their health? Nah...tried that with vegetables...Remote controlled dancing shoes? Nah...tried that with Sporta-flunky's boots..." Then an idea popped into Robbie's head. "Sportacus...hmm...he loves to dance...maybe if I can convince those rotten kids that Sportacus doesn't know a cool dance move but I do...they'll copy me instead of him! And if I make that dance move lazy enough...they won't be dancing at the dance at all but be lazy! AHAHAHAHAHA! I'm a genius!" Robbie continued to laugh manically, his voice echoing on the metal walls around him.


	7. Chapter 7

**_A/N: The Editor of the Lazytown Chronicle here! Sorry it's been a while since the last update, but as Sportacus told me the other day, there's more to life than writing all the time. Remember, the Writer owns nothing. Please read and review._**

* * *

Bessie got busy. First she called everyone in town to make sure they were coming. Then she decided to make the attire dressy casual since it was a little last minute. She hired a local caterer and ordered gobs of food. Then she started calling bands and interviewing them. Finally, at the end of the day, she sat down and wrote out the invitations. And when she awoke the next morning, she went to the mailbox and mailed them off. But one invitation was special. That invitation she rolled up and put it in a special capsule. Then that capsule she placed inside a shoot. She pulled the lever and up up up it went into the sky. Sportacus was in the middle of breakfast and throwing an apple around, when he jumped in the air, did a somersault landing in time to catch the capsule as it popped up into the air. 

"I've got mail!" he exclaimed taking out the invitation and smoothing out the creases. "We cordially invite you to the first annual Lazytown summer dance. Dressy casual attire. From 6pm to 8pm for children, 6pm to midnight for adults." Then the next line made his eyes widen, "You may bring one guest...Who could I bring?" he asked himself. But he already knew the answer. He wanted to bring Tara. But could he work up the nerve to ask her? Thinking over all of this, Sportacus absentmindedly caught the flying apple he had thrown around his ship and took a big bite out of it in thought.

Meanwhile, Tara just went out to her mailbox and sighed taking out the pile of letters,

"Occupant...bill...bill...occupant...You may have already won one zillion dollars...bill...hmm...an invitation?" Tara opened the letter and read, 'We cordially invite you to the first annual Lazytown summer dance. Dressy casual attire. From 6pm to 8pm for children, 6pm to midnight for adults.' Cool beans...One guest huh? I wonder if Sportacus would like to go?" Tara paced a bit, tapping the invitation against her chin, "Hmm...I don't want to scare the guy off...and I'd like to know if he's interested in me too...So I'll wait and see if he asks me to the dance. Of course...I can drop little hints!" She giggled at the thoughts of all she could do, when suddenly, the Major's voice came over the town loudspeakers,

"ATTENTION EVERYONE! ATTENTION! IMPORTANT TOWN MEETING! IMPORTANT TOWN MEETING!" Tara put away her mail and ran to join everyone at the center of town where Major Meanswell pulled back on a lever producing an entire stage and podium. Everyone gathered round as he went up to the microphone.

"What's going on?"

"What's happening?"

"What is it?" Up in his Airship, Sportacus heard the Major's announcement and immediately went into action.

"Down!" he shouted getting on his platform that lowered from the airship. "Ladder!" he yelled as the ladder spilled out of his ship to the ground below. He climbed down and then quickly jumped over six walls, flipped around three tree branches and did four somersaults to make his way to the large crowd around town.

"Sportacus!" yelled everyone in a greeting.

"Hi guys!" Sportacus said with a wave. Then he looked up and there was Tara smiling at him.

"Hi Sportacus." she said warmly. His palms getting sweaty, Sportacus said softly,

"Hi Tara...how..."

"Oh good! Now that everyone is here we can get started!" the Major said over the microphone. Sportacus sighed as he listened, "As you all know...Lazytown shall have it's first annual Summer Dance! There will be a dance contest for children as well as for adults! So that everyone can join in the fun!"

"Stephanie you could win that contest hands down!" Pixel said as the other kids agreed. Stephanie blushed,

"Thanks guys..." The Major continued,

"But I must go over the rules...first...since the Summer Dance is a little more formal...every person in the contest must have a dance partner!"

"Partner?" asked Stingy.

"A dance partner?" asked Ziggy as all the other kids were confused but the adults nodded in understanding. Except for Sportacus who started looking a little nervous...

"Yes...they must move as one and in synchronization! Pop dance mixes are fun...but there are many more exciting dances that must be performed with a partner! Like the Foxtrot!" The Major danced a little step, "The Samba! The Salsa!" As he danced again humming a Hispanic melody, everyone giggled and Trixie asked,

"Like...what they put on nachos?"

"That makes me hungry!" Ziggy said as Stephanie giggled,

"Ziggy..."

"And of course...my own personal favorite...The TANGO! Pixel...a tango beat if you please?" the Major asked the boy with all the electronics. Pixel punched a few buttons on his armband,

"Whatever you say Mr. Major!" Suddenly the air was filled with a spicy melody with a solo violin over everything and the Major reached over to Bessie,

"Miss Busybody?"

"Oh Milford! Certainly!" she said taking his hand. The Major spun her into him, placing his hand on her waist.

"Ooohhh..." went the crowd. Their arms were wrapped around each other, one set of arms straight out before them as they slowly came forward about four steps, then they turned and went the other way four steps, the Mayor spun Bessie out again, before pulling her back and dipping her over his knee."

"Aaahhh! Yay!" applauded the crowd as the Mayor righted himself and Bessie saying,

"Thank you Miss Busybody."

"Oh Milford..." sighed Bessie. Sportacus politely clapped but he had a look of dread on his face as the Mayor said,

"Well! Now that everyone knows what 'slow dancing' is suppose to look like...The rest of the rules are simply each couple must dance every type of dance there is. I am pleased to announce that Miss Busybody will be giving lessons tomorrow to anyone who doesn't know how to dance a certain step." Everyone nodded with some random people saying,

"That's a good idea..."

"What fun!"

"That's cool..."

"...And...the winning couple of either the children's dance contest and the adults...will each receive..." The Mayor pushed a button and a pedestal with two large golden trophies came up and everyone gasped. The Mayor finished, "A beautiful first place trophy!"

"IT'S MINE!" Stingy yelled.

"Wow!" said Ziggy and Trixie. Meanwhile, Robbie Rotten was crouched behind a wall and he gasped at seeing the trophies,

"I must have that trophy!" Mayor Meanswell reminded everyone,

"Remember...everyone in the dance contest must have a partner! That's all everyone! Have a good..." Everyone rushed off leaving only the kids, Tara and Sportacus standing there, " Day?" the Mayor finished. Robbie asked himself,

"A partner? Does that mean I need a...date! Hmm...wait! I can't be in the dance contest! That would be moving! And that goes entirely against my plan!" Then a light bulb went off in his head, "But wait a minute...if I have a date...maybe it will make those rotten kids listen to me...if they listen to me...I can convince them I know a cool dance move the Blue Elf doesn't! Especially if my date does it too! I'm a genius!" he started to laugh manically when he stopped short, "But who can I call?"

* * *

Back in his lair, Robbie took out a little black book and blew off the cobwebs and dust. After coughing a minute, he picked up his phone and dialed the first number in the book. He checked his nails as it rang when a woman picked up, 

"Hello?"

"Hello? Is this...Ana Abersome?" Robbie asked with a rough voice.

"Yes...who's this?" she asked. Crossing his legs, Robbie said smoothly,

"You might not remember me, we went to Lazytown High together...I was Captain of the Knitting Club and I was wondering..."

"Robbie Rotten!" she exclaimed with disgust.

"Yes that is to whom you are..." Robbie stopped when he heard a click and the familiar sound of someone hanging up. "...speaking...This is going to take longer than I thought..." As Robbie thumbed through his list of names, Tara asked the kids back at the center or town,

"So are you kids excited about the dance contest?"

"Yeah!" cried Stephanie enthusiastic as always.

"Well...I don't know...why would anyone want to dance like that? It looks like a snooze fest!" Trixie said.

"And why dance with a partner? Especially if you can have a trophy all to yourself?" Stingy said.

"Yeah...how can dancing to violins and clarinets be as much fun as dancing to a cool techno beat you can make on your computer?" asked Pixel.

"Because learning something new can be fun, right Sportacus?" asked Stephanie.

"Right...and I'm sure once you try slow dance, you'll learn to like it!" Sportacus said.

"Well if that's what it takes to win that trophy...then I suppose I can try it!" Stingy said.

"Yeah...me too!" exclaimed Trixie.

"Me too! Me too!" said Ziggy jumping up and down as the kids started walking off excitingly talking about the dance lesson tomorrow. Tara hung back with Sportacus and asked,

"So...are you going to enter the dance contest, Sport?" Sportacus grew nervous,

"Uh...maybe..."

"Well you'll need a partner right?" asked Tara.

"I would have to have one. The Mayor said so." Sportacus said.

"And...it'd have to be...someone you know...right?" Tara asked edging near him.

"Right..." Sportacus said.

"Someone you like..." Tara said.

"Right..."

"Someone...who's a woman?"

"Absolutely!" Sportacus said.

"So...who are you going with?" asked Tara expectantly.

"Well...actually..."Sportacus said gathering his courage. Suddenly, his crystal began to blink and he exclaimed, "Somebody's in trouble!" Tara stomped her foot,

"Oh wait!"

"I have to go!" Sportacus said running off. Tara sighed,

"A superhero's work is never done! I wonder if Lois Lane ever had these problems?"


	8. Chapter 8

**_A/N: The Editor of the Lazytown Chronicle here! Whoo! The Author and I were kidnapped by an international organization that promotes finals, summer school, writers block and plot bunnies! Truly evil. Luckily, Sportacus saved us, but reminded me I need a life outside of writing. Apparently, Robbie Rotten dressed up as him again and tried to tell some Lazytown residents that sitting on your butt all day and not moving your whole body was healthy for the 'finger muscles'. Robbie Rotten! So,without further ado, read, review and enjoy!_**

**_AndtheAuthor would like to say, _**

**_"Peace, love and lipgloss, _**

**_Mlle.Fox"_**

* * *

Robbie was having no luck what-so-ever. He dialed one more number and when the phone picked up, he rambled off,

"Hi this is Robbie would you like to go out with..." And with a click, the phone hung up without even a hello. Robbie slammed the phone down and cried,

"That's it! Zore Zankerman won't go out with me! That was the last name in my address book. What am I going to do? I need a date to make my brilliant plan work and show up Sporta-sap!" With a sob, he turned on his TV to clear his mind, when the commercial said,

"_DO YOU NEED A DATE?" _Robbie sat up,

"I do need a date!"

"_DO YOU NEED TO SHOW UP SOME JOCK MAKING YOU LOOK LIKE THE PATHETIC WIMP YOU ARE?" _

"Yes! No! Wait a minute!" Robbie said.

"_THEN YOU NEED THE ROBO-DATE! YES SHE'S MECHANICAL, SHE'S ARTIFICIAL, BUT SHE'S ALL YOURS!_"

"All mine!" exclaimed Robbie happily.

"_YES, ALL YOURS WITH TEN EASY INSTALLMENTS OF $12.99. JUST CALL 1-800-BUY-ROBO! THAT'S 1-800-BUY-ROBO! CALL NOW!" _

Robbie picked up the phone again and dialed saying once it picked up,

"Hello? Yes I'd like to buy one Robo-Date please..."

DING-DONG! Cried the doorbell. Robbie jumped and said into the phone,

"That was quick!" He scrambled up the shoot to upstairs and upon opening the hatch, he saw the large, wooden crate waiting for him.

"Perfect! With this robot, now I cam show up that big blue elf once and for all! HAHAHAHAHA!"

* * *

The sun was setting in Lazytown, and at 6:08, a lone figure silently flipped up to Bessie Busybody's door and knocked quietly. Bessie, getting up from her desk full of plans for the dance went to the door without hesitation. She knew who it was. It was the same person who for the past year had silently come to her house at 6:08 every Tuesday. She opened the door seeing Sportacus standing there and she quietly said,

"Hello Alexander." She stepped aside to let her tall son in and after she closed the door, Sportacus enveloped her in a big hug,

"Hello Mom! How's the party coming?"

"Oh you know! Same old same old! The caterers are a nightmare to work with..." As Bessie continued to ramble on, Sportacus laughed softly to himself. His mother always had been the socialite butterfly. And she had always tried to push Sportacus into that same world but was never interested in it. Luckily for Bessie, and unluckily for Sportacus, Bessie had something new to push on her son lately.

"So...have you asked Miss Trueheart to the dance yet?" Bessie asked knowingly.

"Mom..." groaned Sportacus.

"Oh Alex...I know this...superhero thing is complicated and everything...but that shouldn't stop you from having a full happy life..." Bessie said.

"Mom..."

"I mean seriously. For the past fifteen years I've had to keep your identity a secret. Some people don't even know I was married and I had a son! Do you know I even have the Major convinced you're still at medical school?"

"Mom..." Sportacus said sitting down.

"And now...finally I have the chance to see my baby fall in love, get married in the wedding of my dreams and give me some grandchildren..." Bessie said.

"MOM!" Sportacus groaned pulling his cap off his head and running his hands through his thick locks.

"I'm just saying Alex...I know the danger I'm in if anyone knew who you really were...but I want to see you happy. And so far Tara has never failed to bring a smile to that handsome face." Bessie said lovingly stroking her son's face. Sportacus sighed and smiled,

"Can you at least wait until I work up the nerve to ask her out before you start naming my children?"

"Well why do you think I've been planning this whole dance thing? It's the perfect opportunity to ask Tara out! I know she likes you! What's stopping you anyway?" asked Bessie. Sportacus shrugged and admitted embarrassingly,

"I...She...I don't know how to slow dance Mom."

"Are you serious? The one thing Sportacus Nine didn't teach you and it may be the most crucial element in getting my son engaged!" Bessie said in shock. Sportacus stood,

"Mom, can you just show me a few moves?"

"Why can't you just come to the dance class tomorrow?" Bessie asked.

"I don't want the kids to know. They think a superhero should do anything!" Sportacus said.

"Will you ask Tara Trueheart out if I show you how?" Bessie asked expectantly.

"Mom!" Sportacus laughed.

"Just checking!" Bessie said.

* * *

The next day, everyone was gathered in front of Bessie's house, a CD player playing a spicy Latin beat. The kids were trying to learn the moves, Stephanie paired with Pixel, Trixie with Stingy, and Tara with Ziggy, who was watching the feet he had propped up on Tara's toes.

"That's it everyone! Lovely posture Stephanie!" Bessie said as she went around watching everyone.

"Thanks Bessie!" said Stephanie as Bessie turned to Pixel and said,

"But Pixel dear, loosen up! You're so tense as if you're nervous about something!"

"I'm not nervous about anything! Nothing! Nothing at all! Nothing like being around the girl you…never mind." Pixel rambled off before shutting up. Across the way, Trixie cried out,

"Ow! Stingy! Watch those boats you call feet, huh?"

"Well if you just went MY way we wouldn't have a problem now would we?" Stingy asked.

"Why should we go your way?" Trixie demanded.

Bessie interrupted, "Well the gentleman is supposed to lead dear."

"Oh…" said Trixie.

"Told ya!" said Stingy. Tara laughed at Ziggy,

"Uh…Ziggy? Wouldn't you de better if…"

"Shh! I'm trying to count! One two three…one two three…one…" This inspired Stephanie who began to sing,

_**One, two, three**_

_**It's easy as can be…**_

_**Dancing a dance with a friend…**_

_**Swing and sway**_

_**Come what may!**_

_**We'll be friends till the end…**_

_**So let's dance!**_

_**Take…a chance!**_

_**Bring it down real slow...**_

_**We can do it together so let's go!**_

_**You take the lead**_

_**I'll follow it through**_

_**Foxtrot, waltz, and tango, **_

_**Rumba, salsa **_

_**Anyway ya want ta, **_

_**Move around!**_

_**So let's dance!**_

_**Take…a chance!**_

_**Bring it down real slow...**_

_**We can do it together so let's go!**_

_**So let's dance!**_

_**Take…a chance!**_

_**Bring it down real slow...**_

_**We can do it together so let's go!**_

_**One, two, three**_

_**It's easy as can be…**_

_**Dancing a dance with a friend…**_

When Stephanie was done singing, everyone stopped dancing and politely applauded, which is when Sportacus ran up to them and flipped once to stand before Tara.

"Hi guys!" he said as they began to dance again..

"Hi Sportacus! Are you here to help with the dance class too?" asked Stingy.

"Yeah…cause I could really use your help!" Ziggy said with a moan.

"What's wrong Ziggy?" Sportacus asked.

"Oh…Tara is too tall for me! How can I lead when I'm so little!" Ziggy cried.

"Anyone can lead in partner dancing Ziggy!" Sportacus said.

"I've tried to tell him that!" Tara said.

"Sportacus, can you show me how to dance? Oh please, please, please, pretty please?" begged Ziggy.

"Well I…" said Sportacus hesitating. Bessie came up,

"That's a lovely idea Sportacus!"

"Bessie…" whispered Sportacus with a warning. Tara came up to Sportacus and held up her hands,

"Come on Sport…we can show them together!"

"We can?" Sportacus said with a nervous pitch.

"Oh course you can!" Bessie said pushing Sportacus into Tara. He gulped and tentatively took Tara's hands in his, a slightly shaking hand on her waist.

"I'll go pick out a new song! This requires a waltz!" Bessie said excitingly dashing over to the CD player. Sportacus was trying to remember all that his mother had showed him last night, when Tara asked,

"So…do you have someone in mind for the dance contest yet?" Knowing what she was getting at, Sportacus nodded,

"Yes…"

"Have you asked her yet?" Tara asked.

"No…Tara…" Sportacus said gathering his courage. But they were interrupted when a loud clanging and beeping noise wafted through the air.

"What's that?" asked Pixel as everyone stopped practicing. Suddenly, Robbie Rotten rounded the corner holding the hand of a shapely metal purple robot, with a purple mop of hair, a metallic silver dress, and blinking blue lights for eyes.

"What's that?" asked Stephanie.

"It's a Robo-Date 3000. Designed with the latest Artificial Intelligence technology to be the perfect date!" Pixel answered.

"Step aside losers! Make way for the champions of the dance contest! My partner 'Plum' and I have to practice! Althought…we don't really need it!" laughed Robbie.

"Plum? What kinda name is 'Plum'?" asked Trixie hands on hip.

"Well Gwen Paltrow named her kid 'Apple' didn't she? Now step aside Clyde!" Robbie said shooing everyone away. As they stood to the side, Tara asked Sportacus, who was annoyed beyond belief,

"So…that's Robbie Rotten huh?"

"Yeah…don't worry…he's relatively harmless…most of the time anyway." Sportacus told her.

"So what were you going to ask me?" Tara prompted watching Robbie begin to comically dance with his 'partner', his moves more mechanical than hers. Sportacus shook his head,

"Nothing…" Dissapointment shown on Tara's face as she hung her head a bit,

"Oh…" Suddenly, Robbie tried to spin Plum the Robot out, but he let go and Plum started swirling round and round, getting faster every second, sparks and smoke steaming out of her.

"Uh oh…" Robbie said before Plum barreled into him and carried him all over the yard."

"AAAHHHH!" he screamed like a little girl.

"Hang on Robbie!" called Sportacus running up to help. Sportacus jumped on the robots back, which meant the robot let go of Robbie, sending him face first into the ground. Tara rushed forward to help him up,

"Are you okay?" Robbie shook her off and sobbed,

"No! Now I don't have a date to the dance!" Tara looked over at the robot which was surely being taken apart by Sportcus as he jumped, dodged and dived out of it's way. She shrugged,

"Well…there's gotta be somebody who doesn't have a…"

"No! There's nobody! I've tried and I've tried, but no one will go out with me!" Robbed sobbed dramatically. Looking to Sportacus who had finished with the robot, Tara sighed and told Robbie,

"I'll go out with you…"

"Say what?" asked Robbie in shock.

"WHAT?" asked everyone overhearing her.


	9. End of Part 2

**_A/N: The Editor of the Lazytown Chronicle here! Sorry it's been a while, but Sportacus, Tara, the kids and I had to go rescue the Author...again...This time, she was kidnapped by pirates! Not Rottenbeard, but a crafty fellow named Captain Jack Sparrow. He really liked Sportacus' hat. He was actually quite an agreeable pirate, made the kids laugh, very friendly...a little too friendly for Tara's liking, she had to slap him. But just as we found the Author, she had manacled herself to the Captain's bed! Apparently...um...she didn't want to be rescued...Can't blame her really, the Captain was a handsome chap. But Sportacus had to carry her and the bed off the ship with her screaming all the way, _**

****

**_"I don't WANNA GOOOOOOO!" _**

****

**_(Sigh) The only way we could convince her to return to Lazytown, is if I mentioned her fanart contest she's having to celebrate her one year anniversary. Deadline is August 14th. Wouldn't you all like a chance to draw your favorite scene from The Lazytown Chronicle? See The Author's profile page for details. And don't forget to read, review and...oh cripes! The Author has run away again!_**

****

**_(Author: I'm coming JACK BABY!)_**

****

**_(Sigh) Here we go again..._**

* * *

"I'm sorry...and you are...?" Robbie asked Tara searching for a name. Tara helped him to his feet standing up,

"I'm Tara Trueheart. I just moved here."

A lightbulb went off in Robbie's brain. He grinned and said enthusiastically,

"Really? Well...Had I known you were this cute I would have thought about coming over and introducing myself!"

"Thanks...I think..." Tara nodded polietly.

"But then I don't need an introduction, do I?" Robbie said polishing his fingers on his vest.

"No you're Robbie Rotten...I've heard...a lot about you." Tara told him.

"All good I hope!" Robbie said.

"Well..." Tara started.

"But I believe someone agreed to go with someone someplace sometime?" Robbie hinted. Tara nodded and smiled,

"So long as that someone properly asks that other someone to that someplace at sometime."

"Oh...Very well then...Miss Trueheart...would thou have the honor of being in my presence at the dance?" Robbie said trying to be gallant. Tara couldn't help but laugh. She was about to open her mouth to answer, when Ziggy cried out,

"Don't do it Tara! Robbie is evil, mean and...well...rotten!"

"Yeah!" chorused the kids as Robbie glared at them. Tara simply looked at all of them and told them,

"But Robbie asked me..." At this, she glanced to Sportacus who looked positively crushed and like a sad puppy. She smiled up at Robbie and told him,

"Robbie, I'd love to go to the dance with you."

Estactic, Robbie told her,

"Well then I'll meet you there! Don't worry If I'm late...I like to watch the 'Golden Girls'..."

"Um...actually...it's best if the gentleman picks the lady up at her house...say around...5:48?" Tara suggested.

"Oh...ok...guess I could TIVO 'Golden Girls'..." Then Robbie muttered to himself, "Sheesh! Who knew dating would be such hard work?"

"Okay...I'll see you at my house at 5:48 pm!" Tara said.

"Yeah yeah yeah..." Robbie said waving her off. Then, looking suave and debonaire, he took her hand and said, "Until tonight medear!" Robbie then bent over her hand and gave the back of her hand a big sloppy kiss. Tara tried not to grimace, the kids tried not to barf and Sportcus tried not to rush over there and rip Robbie apart like he had done with the robot. Sportacus had never felt this mad at anyone before. Not even Robbie...but now his shoulders were tense, his eyebrows furrowed together and his mouth was a thin line clenched shut. He even clenched his fists. When Robbie was done, he stood smiled and causally walked away, practically floating on air. He made a point to walk past Sportacus and stick out his tongue at him. It was all Sportacus could do to control himself. As Tara wiped her hand on the back of her red jeans, the kids came up to her side.

"Tara! How could you agree to go out with that creep?" asked Trixie.

"Yeah...Robbie Rotten of all people!" Stingy said.

"Guys come on! I'm sure Robbie is not that bad. All he needs is someone to get to know him better." Tara said.

"Well I don't know...Robbie must be up to something sneaky!" Pixel said as Sportacus stepped near.

"Pixel's right Tara. You have to watch out for him. Robbie is not the nicest person sometimes." Sportacus said. Tara put her hands on her hips,

"Wait a minute! Does anyone give that guy a break around here?"

"We try but Robbie is..." Sportacus started.

"Wait...who are you to pass judgement on someone?" Tara asked him.

"He's broken our trust too many times that's all. We've told you about what he's done. I can't believe you'd go out with him!" Sportacus said.

"Well excuse me for giving people a chance!" Tara said defensively.

"You shouldn't give Robbie a chance." Sportacus told her as the kids looked back and forth between the two grownups.

"And why not? You have! Countless times! You told me so the other day." Tara said folding her arms.

"That's...that's besides the point!" Sportacus exclaimed.

"And what would be the point?"

"That you shouldn't go out with him!" Sportacus said.

"Well he's the only and the first person who asked me!" Tara said ending her point by walking away.

"Tara! Tara wait! I..." Sportacus called after her. Stephanie touched his arm,

"I'll go talk with her Sportacus..."

"Thanks Stephanie..."Sportacus sighed watching the little pink girl run after the lady in red. Sportacus looked back to the remaining kids and asked,

"Did I just blow it?"

"Yes!" they chorused.

* * *

Meanwhile, Robbie was practically dancing all the way back to his lair.

"This is even better than I planned! I stole the girl of Sporta-sap right out from under him! And since everyone likes her, they'll imitate her doing my dance/not dance and everyone will be lazy! I'm a genius! HAHAHAHAHA!" Then he stopped, licking his palms and smoothing back his hair,

"And on a side note...I think she digs me! Maybe soon they'll be a...MRS. Rotten!...Well besides my mom...OH! I've got to call her!"

Back at his lair, the phone dialed and when it clicked, a woman with a deep voice said,

"Hello?"

"Hello Mom? Don't hang up! I've got a date!" he told her rapidly.

"Great...I'm proud son, really proud..." she told him.

"Ah yeah she was puddy in my..."Robbie started before hearing the click of a phone. When he heard the phone tone, he replied, "Hello?"

* * *

That night the dance was already kicking off eight minutes past six. Sportacus stood in a corner of the outdoor dance floor, watching everyone else dance. Then he felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to find Stephanie and Pixel, in their dress clothes looking up at him. Being a superhero, Sportacus could get away with wearing his regular clothes. He looked to Stephanie unexpectantly and asked,

"Well? What did she say?"

"That it's grownup problem...Sorry Sportacus." Stephanie told him. Sportacus sighed and looked to his unopened water bottle,

"Okay...thanks Stephanie..."

"Hey! Look! There's Tara and Robbie now!" Pixel said pointing to where the crowd parted a bit. Sure enough there was Robbie, looking smug and full of himself in a pinstriped purple zoot suit. And Sportacus squeeze his water bottle so hard at the sight of the lovely creature on Robbie's arm, the bottle cap flew off and water sprayed everywhere. She was dressed in a knee length, strapless red pinafore dress with layers of tulle underneath and bright red open toe pumps. Her brown hair was curled and pinned to the top of her head, diamonds earring dangling from her ears. A purple corsage was strapped to her wrist.

"Ah-heh..." whimpered Sportacus. Meanwhile, Tara asked Robbie,

"So Robbie? What do you like to do with your spare time?"

"Shush! Dance contest is starting!" Robbie told her as the Mayor came up to the microphone. Dressed in a smart tux, Mayor Meanswell said to everyone,

"Welcome Lazytown to the First Annual Lazytown Semi-Formal! First things first...the dance contest! Everyone! Grab a partner and start dancing! DJ Zig...If you please?"

Playing DJ with large sunglasses, backwards baseball cap and plenty of bling, Ziggy told the mayor,

"You got it Mr. Mayor!" He started the CD player, and everyone began dancing to a spicy cha-cha. Well...all except Robbie. He stood very still, ever so often stepping to the side. Trying to dance, Tara offered helpfully,

"Uh...Robbie? Don't you know the steps?"

Robbie scoffed,

"Of course I know the steps! But go with me on this one Babe, I'm starting a new dance craze! It's elegant, it's easy, it's..."

"Lazy." said Tara.

"Precisely! That trophy is ours!" Robbie exclaimed. Just then, Bessie and the Mayor came up to them. Mayor Meanswell sighed and said reluctantly, trying to spare ill feelings,

"I'm sorry Mr. Rotten...Miss Trueheart...But you two are hardly dancing! I'm going to have to have to disqualify you."

"What!" demanded Robbie.

"I'm sorry Mr. Rotten." the Mayor stand.

"But...but...I'm starting a new dance craze!" Robbie insisted.

"Well good for you Robbie...but I'm afraid the point of a dance contest is to dance to whatever music is playing." Bessie said.

"It's okay Robbie. You can get me some punch and we can watch from the sidelines." Tara told Robbie.

"Forget it! Why would I need a date when I'm out of the contest! Grrr!" raged Robbie stomping off the floor.

"Robbie!" Tara called after him.

"Oh Tara I'm so sorry..." Bessie told the young woman. Tara gave a weak smile before running off,

"Excuse me..."

"Oh! Oh dear..."The Mayor said. Then Bessie noticed Sportacus had been watching the whole thing. With a smile she saw him run after Tara in the gardens.

"That's my boy..."Bessie said quietly to herself. Sportacus found Tara sitting on a park bench, sniffling and wiping her tears away with her hands. Sportacus grimiced then called up to his ship,

"Hankie!" A handkerchief dropped down from the airship, Sportacus catching it with one hand, flipping over to Tara's side once. He sat beside her and silently offered the handkerchief. She smiled sadly at him as she took it saying,

"My hero..."

"I'm sorry Robbie acted like that Tara." Sportacus said.

"Well...you tried to tell me didn't you?" she said.

"I'm sorry...I shouldn't have tried to tell you who to go to the dance with." Sportacus said. Tara laughed,

"You won't even say 'I told you so.' Don't you get tired of being the perfect man, Sport?"

"I'm not perfect Tara...if I were...I wouldn't have given Robbie the chance to ask you to the dance...before me..." Sportacus admitted. Tara turned to look at him,

"Is that so?"

"Tara...I wanted to ask you so badly...I tried and I tried...but I kept getting..." Sportacus said looking for the right word.

"Scared?" Tara offered.

"Yeah...some superhero huh?" Sportacus laughed. She squeezed his hand,

"Slightly above average hero."

Sportacus smiled at her, his teeth showing in joy,

"Oh Tara...you look so beautiful tonight..." Sportacus told her. Tara huffed,

"Thanks to Robbie this dress is going to waste!"

Sportacus grinned with a plan in his eye. He pulled her to his feet and pulled her along saying,

"Not nessecarily..."

The music ended and everyone applauded. As Ziggy started a catchy swing song, Stephanie pointed out to the dance floor,

"Look! There's Tara and Sportacus!" Everyone watched as Sportacus began to swing Tara around the dancefloor. He and Tara were laughing and having a grand time, not even noticing everyone else stepped back to watch them dance.

"Wow! Look at them go!" Stingy said as Sportacus spun Tara out.

"There going to do a big finish!" Trixie exclaimed as Sportacus lifted Tara up off her feet, swinging her to hir right, his left, between his legs before spinning her on her toes once, before spinning her back and over his knee as the music ended in one large blast. Everyone clapped and applauded as Mayor Meanswell and Bessie entered the dancefloor and announced,

"Ladies and Gentlemen! I'm happy to announce that the adult winners of the dance contestare Tara Trueheart and Sportacus Ten!" Everyone cheered as Tara asked the Mayor,

"But I thought I was disqualified?"

"When you were with Robbie...But since you danced with Sportacus, you were back in!" the Mayor explained.

"Wow! Thanks Mr. Mayor!" Sportacus said taking the trophy from Bessie.

"And...the winners of the children's dance contest are...Trixie and Stingy!" the Mayor said.

"What? We actually won!" Trixie exclaimed in shock.

"Congratulations guys!" Stephanie said.

"MINE!" yelled Stingy diving for the trophy. He only ended up getting his head stuck in the cup.

"Stingy!" groaned everyone.

"Hit it Ziggy!" Pixel yelled. Ziggy put on a catchy dance mix and everyone danced the night away.

_**Bing Bang Diggly Dong  
First thing that I say after I wake up  
Bing Bang Diggly Dong  
I say those words before I go to sleep **_

Get on up it's time to dance yeah  
It's so much fun being up on our feet

So we go up up  
To the top  
Move around and clap your hands together  
Down down turn around  
Having fun is what it's all about

Bing Bang Diggly Dong  
Funny words I sing when I am dancing  
Bing Bang Diggly Dong  
Silly words that can mean anything

Get on up it's time to dance yeah  
It's so much fun being up on our feet

So we go up up  
To the top  
Move around and clap your hands together  
Down down turn around  
Having fun is what it's all about

Oh 1, 2 me and you  
Move around and clap your hands together  
3, 4 on the floor  
Having fun is what it's all about

* * *

Robbie slumped down in his chair, whipping off his clip on tie.

"Stupid dance contest! Stupid blue elf! Stupid stupid stupid!" he whined. He fumed a minute before his bottom lip trembled. He said to himself,

"I'm not going to cry...I'm not going to cry...I need a cookie!"


	10. Chapter 10

**_A/N: Well...finally managed to wrangle up the Author for another update. It's a little short though, but it does set the tone of the next story in Lazytown. The Author still is crazy about Captain Jack, but she's learned to...(whispers from offstage) What! Whaddayamean the Author picked the lock of her cell! Dang it...she's gone again!Curse you Will Turner for teaching her about locks!But as the editor of the Lazytown Chronicle, I will not rest until she has returned and updated. And just some annoucements, there's two more weeks for the Author's fan art contest, and check below the chapter for a special sneak peek at a story the Author currently has in the works. (shouts to offstage) Sportacus! Start peddling! I'll get the rope!_**

**_Read and Review_**

* * *

Sportacus Ten ran through the streets of Lazytown, jumping walls, flipping over mail boxes and slamming a basketball into the hoop. Tara was walking down the street, when she saw the superhero pass by.

"Hey Sport!" she yelled to him with a wave. He looked over his shoulder as he ran and shouted,

"Hi Tara!" But he didn't watch where he was going and he tripped over a rose bush.

"Sportacus!" yelled Tara rushing to his side. She helped pull him up as he laughed it off,

"Knowing you is hazardous to my health, Tara!"

"Sportacus...what a corny joke...Does that mean you've 'fallen' for me?" Tara quipped. He presented her a rose and smirked,

"Maybe..."

Tara only smiled as she smelled the rose.

* * *

_**Welcome to Lazytown**_

_**It's the start of a brand new day! **_

_**You'll meet Robbie with his rotten plan, **_

_**And Sportacus saving the day!**_

_**Stephanie is new in town, **_

_**and soon she and Ziggy are friends!**_

_**With Stingy, Pixel and Trixie too, **_

_**They're going to have a blast together!**_

_**Go go go! Get up Lazytown! **_

_**It's the start of a brand new day!**_

_**Things are upside down here in Lazytown, **_

_**Adventure's just a moment away...**_

"_**Art Class"

* * *

**_

"Steph! Stop squirming!" Tara laughed as she dipped some more red into her white paint. When she got the right shade of pink, Tara took the brush to the canvas again, while her subject giggled,

"I can't help it Tara! Sitting still is very hard for me!"

"Well that's a good thing...but in this case it's bad because you only get so many trys with paint! Now hold still!" Tara ordered with a smile. Stephanie resumed her pose as she sat on the stool in Tara's studio. Then she got a familiar twitch in her nose.

_'Uh-oh!' _she thought as her nose skewed to the side a bit. She kept wriggling it around resisting the urge to raise her hand up to scratch it. Then a familiar tingle started and made Stephanie open and close her mouth a few times.

"Ah...ah...ah ah ah...AHH-CHOO!" Stephanie sneezed blowing a stack of sketches to the floor. She gasped with a hand covering her mouth, her eyes darting to Tara. The woman raised a bemused eyebrow and smirked a little, as Stephanie softly said,

"Sorry Tara..."

Tara burst out laughing which made Stephanie laugh as well. Finally, Tara said putting aside her brush and pallet,

"It's okay Steph...I'm done anyway. Take a look!" Excited, Stephanie jumped down and ran over, gasping in delight at the realistic potrait of herself.

"I can't believe that's me staring back at me! It's wonderful!" Stephanie exclaimed.

"Thanks Steph. You know...maybe you can send it to your folks. Let them know you're thinking of them!" Tara suggested.

"That's a great idea! Their anniversary is coming up anyway! Man...I wish I could draw as well as you can." Stephanie said.

"Well...I could teach you..." Tara said folding her arms.

"Really!" squealed Stephanie. Tara shrugged,

"Sure! I could teach anyone who wants to learn. Interested?"

"Am I! Think this is something the other kids might like?" Stephanie asked.

"Sure! Why don't you go ask them?" Tara said. Stephanie ran out yelling,

"Wait till the others hear about this!"

Meanwhile, Robbie Rotten had managed to climb up a wall, and he was spying on Tara and Stephanie through his binoculars.

"An art class? Hmm...wonder if this is a golden opportunity to do something...rotten! HAHAHAHAHA!...Woah!" he cried falling off the side of the wall to the ground below.

"Ouch..."he whimpered.

* * *

Chemistry

_Philimina Maynard is an outcast on the skirts of Tortuga. Many think her a witch, but she's really a absentminded scientist, a chemist and inventor. And she's hopelessly in love with Captain Jack Sparrow. But he doesn't seem to know she's a woman, and only comes around when he needs one of her amazing inventions. He's in town again, needing supplies to help him snag a mystical treasure, and Phil is determined to impress him and reveal her feelings for him. When she accidentally conjures up an elastic green goo that makes anything bounce and even fly, she gets sidetracked by her creation that's she's dubbed 'Flubber'...at least until Jack's competitor for the treasure tries to steal the flubber for himself. Can Phil and her talking cat Weebo help Jack find that treasure? Will the pirates get flubber? Can flubber help Phil win Jack's heart?_


	11. Chapter 11

**_A/N: The Editor of the Lazytown Chronicle here! Sorry for the long delay. Inspired by the fanart she got from Kelixar for her story Princess Diaries, The Author actually returned to Lazytown on her own freewill...then her computer crashed on her! She's using her parents computer for now until she can get it fixed..._**

**_(Author: "Curse you Bill Gates!" Hits computer then holds hand, "Ow!") _**

**_Ah-heh...yeah...Also, sorry for the short chapter but the Author was also taken hostage again. Not by pirates but by her evil full time job._**

**_(Author: "Curse you Tires!" Hits tires then holds other hand, "OW!") _**

**_Don't ask...(sigh) _**

**_Author: "Peace love and lipgloss!" _**

**_Mlle. Fox_**

Stephanie had found the other kids playing hopscotch on the playground. To think that a year ago these kids wouldn't want to do anything outdoors on their own was amazing. Now they didn't even need Stephanie's prodding or Sportacus's influence to go out and play. Stephanie ran up to her friends and exclaimed,

"Guys! Guess what?"

"What?" asked Ziggy spinning on his heel only to have his lollipop stick to Pixel's shirt.

"Hey!" cried Pixel tugging on it. As they began a tug of war, Trixie rolled her eyes and asked Stephanie,

"What is it Pinky? I was about to beat Stingy's record for consecutive wins at hopscotch."

"No you weren't. Because that title is...mine!" Stingy said with a snobbish air.

"Guys listen! Tara has offered to teach us how to paint! We're going to have an art class!" Stephanie told him.

"Wow! Really? I'd love to draw pretty pictures like Tara does!" Ziggy said still tugging on his lollipop.

"Yeah...my own gallery of artwork...all dedicated to me...all painted...by ME!" Stingy said dreaming on the end result.

"Do you even have a gallery Stingy?" asked Stephanie with a laugh.

"No but I can buy one." Stingy said pulling out his cell phone and speed dialing his contractor. As he spoke on the phone, Trixie said to Stephanie,

"An art class would be fun Pinky."

"Yeah, and what's even better is that Robbie Rotten can't complain about it! It's a nice quiet activity." Pixel said as Ziggy gave one last tug and the lollipop came flying loose, the two boys falling backwards to the ground. Meanwhile, watching from his telescope in the lair, Robbie Rotten laughed,

"HA! That's what you think! There are numerous reasons WHY I hate the idea of an art class." And with that he pulled down a green chalkboard with crude drawings.

"Reason number one! Art is an activity for the mind...And to be truly lazy, one can't even use their minds! Why do you think video games were invented? Reason number two! That Tara Trueheart will only be seen as even more cool if she teaches them how to do something. And the last thing I need around here is another cool person telling those brats not to be lazy! Reason number three and this is the best reason of all...it would only be a matter of time before those brats pick that flipping, jumping, muscular, blue dolt as their subject! I can't let that happen!" Robbie cried desperately as he sent the chalkboard back up. He straightened his vest and added,

"Besides...I haven't done anything rotten in a week...don't want to get rusty do I?" He began to pace and think,

"What can I do? What can I do?"

As Robbie plotted, Sportacus was doing his own planning as well. He paced his airship muttering to himself,

"Tara...would you go out with me? No...too direct...Tara...I like you...and I know you like me...No! Too full of myself...Tara do you think maybe we could, if you're not too busy...maybe do something together sometime? NO! Too indirect!" Then Sportacus' private emergency phone blinked and buzzed to life. He jumped in the air, did three somersaults, took the cordless off the hook and threw it up behind his back catching it with his right hand.

"Hello? Mr. Mayor is there an..."

"Hullo Alex! How's medical school?" Bessie Busybody said as she sat at her desk watching the Major go into his office.

"Mom! I told you...This phone is for emergencies only!" Sportacus told her.

"I know, I know...but my future bragging rights as a Grandma is at stake! Have you asked Tara to marry...I mean! Have you asked her out yet?" Bessie asked in a whisper. Sportacus put his mother on speaker phone and groaned,

"Mom..."

"Oh Alex! Didn't Sportacus Nine teach you anything about women? Even if they are the most independent self seficient woman, a girl prefers it when the gentleman asks her first!" Bessie lectured as Sportacus rolled his eyes and began to do chin ups.

"Yes Mom..." he said to placate her.

"Now...I've heard from Janice who talked to Karen who spoke to Mrs. McCubbins that Tara is going to teach an art class to the children!" Bessie said. Sportacus smiled,

"That's great! The kids will like that!"

"Who cares about the kids? This is your chance! Show her you're interested in something she likes!" Bessie said as Sportacus rolled his eyes once more and said with a shrug,

"But I am interested in her art!"

"Good good...Very convincing! Now keep it up tomorrow when you go to the art class!" Bessie said.

"Mom..."


	12. Chapter 12

**_A/N: Editor of the Lazytown Chronicle here. Short chappy, but the Author finally got her computer fixed._**

**_Mlle.Fox: "Yay!" _**

**_But, she must run off to work soon, so she had to make this update brief._**

**_Mlle.Fox: "Boo..." _**

**_But maybe we can convince her to update sooner if we give her Capt.Jack Sparrow._**

**_Mlle.Fox: "YAY!" _**

**_Enjoy!_**

**_"peace, love and lipgloss!" _**

**_Mlle.Fox_**

* * *

The next day, the kids waited in anticipation in the park for Tara to show up. Ziggy looked up in one direction and saw her coming with a large canvas bag slung over her shoulder.

"She's coming! She's coming!" he cried hopping up and down.

"Hey guys! Ready to get started?" Tara asked putting down the bag.

"Yeah!" chorused the kids jumping up and down a little. Ziggy peeked into Tara's bag,

"Whatca got Tara?"

Tara grinned and sang as she unpacked her bag,

**_"I got...a bouncing ball...that goes straight to the moon..." _**The kids looked at each other confused as she pulled out paint jars.

**_"I got...a roaring lion that sleeps in til noon." _**Ziggy peeked in the bag again as she pulled out canvases,

"Where?!"

_**"With your imagination...**_

_**And the tools of my trade...**_

_**"You can...create anything...**_

_**Anything can be...made!" **_

The class began, everyone getting their own canvas and paints and brushes.

_**"With a little paint, you can make a rainbow...**_

_**With a little brush, you can see the wind blow...**_

_**Put it on a canvas, let your dreams go...**_

_**With your imagination!" **_

Tara just let the kids start putting paint on the canvas, letting their creativity spring to life. Trixie drew a cat, Ziggy drew candy, and Stingy drew a dollar sign. Tara went over to Pixel, who hadn't started yet, but he was typing on his laptop computer.

_**"Some people, don't even need to paint, **_

_**to create a world...**_

_**They use, the written word, pen, paper or the computer!"**_

Robbie Rotten's parascope peeked up over the bushes and glared at the fun.

_**"It's all in how you see it...**_

_**So let yourself unwind...**_

_**It's all in your mind!!!" **_

Stephanie giggled with Tara as she painted a pink chicken.

_**"With a little paint, you can make a rainbow...**_

_**With a little brush, you can see the wind blow...**_

_**Put it on a canvas, let your dreams go...**_

_**With your imagination!" **_

The kids started dancing in front of their canvases, Ziggy accidentally flinging a glob of paint at Trixie who gasped as the music came to a screeching halt. Then an all out paint fight began, the kids and the playground becoming an absolute mess!

_**"With a little paint, you can make a rainbow...**_

_**With a little brush, you can see the wind blow...**_

_**Put it on a canvas, let your dreams go...**_

**_With your imagination..." _**finished Tara with a laugh as the kids continued to giggle and throw paint.

Down in his lair, Robbie watched with a grimace as Tara ducked a glob of blue paint and the kids laughed and played. He tore himself away and cried,

"Oh! I'm so torn! On the one hand...they are making a mess...which is bad therefore good! But they're having way too much fun which is good therefore...BAD! I must stop them!" He stomped up to his costumes and disguises and debated which one to choose.

"Too ritzy..." he said pointing to a three piece suit with a bad combover wig. The next one was a bright pink cheerleader outfit.

"Too ditzy!"

The next costume was a Las Vegas showgirl ensemble with glittering and feathers all over.

"Too glizy!"

Then he gasped and smiled,

"Too good to be true!"

Robbie pulled the lever of his machine, which spun him around and around until he was dressed in a black turtleneck, black highwater jeans, white socks and black shoes. He adjusted the blond wig on his head with the shaggy haircut and put on the black rimmed coke bottle glasses,

"With this disguise and my brilliant plan, there's no way I can fail! AHHAHAHAHAHA!"


	13. Chapter 13

* * *

**_A/N: We're back! The reason me and the Author were gone so long is we had to return Johnny Depp back to his wife and kids in France. Thanks anyway AnonyMiss._**

**_Mlle.Fox: It's the thought that counts!_**

**_But, Mlle. Fox wants the real Jack Sparrow..._**

**_Mlle.Fox: CAPTAIN!_**

**_Uh...not...just the guy who plays him. Since she got Dead Man's Chest on DVD for Christmas, the Author was inspired enough to update. So, read and review!_**

**_Mlle.Fox: You always call Jack 'Captain', you know that!_**

**_Editor: Yeesh, I'll tattoo it to my forehead alright?_**

* * *

"Wow Ziggy, I like your use of colors!" Tara exclaimed to Ziggy as he painted a bright lollipop. The paintfight had calmed down, and the giggles had subsided to concentration as the kids worked on their art work.

"Thanks Tara!" Ziggy said.

"That paintbrush is mine!" Ziggy insisted to Trixie.

"No it isn't!" she said.

"Okay you guys, cool it! Jessica and Nick got along better than the two of you." Tara quipped.

"Well Tara! We've been painting for over an hour now and I'm still not any better at art! I want to paint like you!" Stingy said.

"Yeah, my computer can make a better picture than me right now." Pixel said.

"Oh guys come on. It takes years to be a good artist." Tara told them.

"Years?!" chroused the kids.

"But...I want to be a good artist now!" Trixie whined.

"I'm sorry guys, but no one can become a world class artist overnight." Tara told them with a shrug.

"Oh pish posh!" cried a voice.

"Who said that?" Stephanie asked. A tall blond man in black clothes and glasses stepped out from behind the bushes. He sauntered up to them and said,

"You don't need practice if you have a gift!"

"And...you would be?" Tara asked folding her arms.

"Randy Warthog...world class abstract artist...in person...Did I mention I'm a genius?" he said polishing his nails.

"Really? Never heard of you." Tara said suspiciously. Randy grinned and chuckled,

"Oh really? Well I've had shows in Milan, Paris, New York, LA, Freeport...Where was your last gallery opening?"

Tara shrugged and admitted,

"Oh uh...you wouldn't know it..."

"Well, that's probably because we world class abstract artists don't associate with...common amatures."

"Amatures? Listen Buster..." Tara started.

"Randy's the name...not Buster. And...I was searching the world for fresh talent I could mold for greatness, for glory, for fame, for adoration! And wouldn't you know...I found it right here! In this quaint little town called Hazytown!" Randy said as the kids listened animately.

"That's Lazytown." Stephanie corrected him.

"Whatever...Listen Cats and Kittens...You kids don't need to practice art to be good artists. You can't practice art it just...happens!" Randy told them.

"But Mr. Warthog, Art does take some formal training and..."

"Did Michelangelo have formal training? Da Vinci? Mick Jagger?" Randy Warthog demanded passionately.

"One of those is a singer not a artist." Tara said.

"Whatever! Point is only those without talent think they have to practice art! Kids...one hour with me and you'll be asked to repaint the Sistine Chapel. What do you say?" Randy asked as Tara pouted, her feelings hurt by his harsh comment.

"Well...how do we know you can really paint?" Trixie asked. Randy laughed hauntingly,

"Ha! Step aside!"

He snatched up Tara's brush from her hands, approached a blank canvas turned from them and pretended to dip the brush in the paint. He sized up the canvas with his thumb and then rapidly made as if he were doing furious and passionate brush strokes aganist the canvas. Then he dipped the brush in the black paint and put one small dot in the centerWhen he was done, He put down the brush and paint, and turned the canvas around, revealing it's whiteness.

"Uh...there's nothing there." Ziggy said as he, Tara and the kids cocked their heads to the side trying to see anything.

"Oh well...to those with no talent and or vision or imagination yes...but if you look closely, you can just make out the delicate brush strokes, with the light catching the shadows clearly making this a portrait of a polar bear in a snow storm...with his eyes closed." Randy said stepping back and evaluating the piece. The kids nodded,

"Oh!"

"I see if!" Stingy said.

"Me too! Me too!" Ziggy said.

"Wait a minute guys! There's nothing there but a little black dot!" Tara insisted.

"Ah, to the untalented and untrained eye yes. Any true artist would see though, that the polar bear with his eyes closed is symbolic of ignorance to the world around him. Wouldn't you agree?" Randy asked.

"Well I..." Tara said unsure.

"Tara! You do see the polar bear...don't you?" Pixel asked.

"Well..." Tara said.

"Gees Tara! I thought you were a real artist!" Trixie said.

"I thought I was too. Excuse me." Tara said walking away.

"Trixie! That was really mean!" Stephanie told her friend.

"Oh come on Pinky! She'll get over it!" Trixie said.

"Ooh ooh ooh! Mr. Warthog will you take over the art class?" Ziggy asked.

"I'd be honored!" Randy Warthog said with a smile.

"But what about Tara?" Stephanie asked.

"We can talk to her later. But let's become world class artists first!" Stingy said as they followed Randy to the center of the park. Torn between fitting in, and helping a friend, Stephanie sighed as she reluctantly followed the kids back to the art class.

Meanwhile, Sportcus had just finished playing one on one basketball with himself, when he spotted Tara nearby.

"Tara! Now's my chance! Okay, stay calm...relax...you like her and she likes you...I hope..." Sportacus told himself before taking a deep breath, exhaling it, throwing the ball away, doing six back flips and a twist in the air before landing on the wall by Tara.

"Hi Tara! How are you?" he smiled.

"Oh...Hey Sport." Tara said softly. Seeing her sad expression, Sportacus furrowed his brow in concern and stepped down from the wall asking,

"Hey...Are you okay?"

Smiling up at his handsome face, Tara gave him a small smile,

"Sure...I'm fine...I just found out my whole career has been pointless and I'm a no talented hack but...I'll live. Want to get a smoothie? Maybe twelve?"

"Uh sure..." Sportacus said as she led the way. He sighed and said under his breath, "Women!"


	14. End of Part 3

**_A/N: Editor of the Lazytown Chronicle here...after months and months I had thought we lost the Author forever. But Sportacus and I finally found her behind a Walmart in the fetal position, mumbling over and over again, 'Tires...tires...tires!' We spent part of the time in rehab, helping the Author get back her inspiration by showing her fan art of Jack Sparrow, a steady diet of the Phantom of the Opera soundtrack and making her write down all those plot ideas the Bunnies kept throwing at her. And while the Doctor agreed to let her finish this chapter of a life in Lazytown, the Author is under strict orders to finish her other stories on F . F. Net first, and then take a week long vacation to Disney World in June before starting anything new. But he did let her put up a blog at blogspot . com, and said blog will host a special fan event that you can be apart of. We even got the Doc's okay. Check it out at mllefox / blogspot . com. And now, on with the show!_**

* * *

The art class wasn't fun anymore in Stephanie's opinion. They weren't even painting! They were still on their stools before their canvases staring at the white space. Mr. Warthog said they had to think about their painting first. To let inspriation come to them. An active girl like Stephanie was just bored.

"Are you guys having any fun?" Stephanie whispered to her friends.

"Well...no...but we want to be great artists. You heard Mr. Warthog. Fame, glory, adoration!" Stingy whispered back.

"But guys, artists don't do art to be rich and famous...they..."Stephanie started to explain to them. Randy towered over her and said,

"Well...what do we have here? Someone who doesn't know the value of working in silence?!" Stephanie looked up at him and asked,

"How long are we going to sit here? I want to paint something." Stephanie asked.

"Ha! Anyone can paint something...I'm trying to get you to paint great works of art here! Great art sometimes take five, ten, fifteen years before it's complete!" Randy said.

"Fifteen years?! We would have missed high school and most of college by then!" Ziggy exclaimed.

"Trust me, college is overrated. Besides...the education of art and greatness...is far more rewarding. Look at me. I've had a thrity year career, and I've only painted three paintings. And I did it by sitting quietly and thinking for a long long time. Not...moving...one...inch..." Randy stressed.

"Sounds kinda lazy to me." Trixie said.

"Who asked ya Pigtails?" Randy barked breaking character. Then he cleared his throat and said, "Now...if you want to be good artists...you must sit quietly and wait for inspiration to come to you."

Stephanie sighed then looked up to see a beautiful pink butterfly nearby. She grabbed a brush and exclaimed,

"Inspiration has hit! I'm going to paint that butterfly!" Randy grabbed her wrist as she reached for the paint and said,

"NO! That's not inspiration! Anyone can draw a stupid butterfly!"

"But I want to paint the butterfly." Stephanie told him yanking her arm back.

"But I said no!" Randy said pulling her arm back.

"Yes!" Stephanie replied pulling her arm back.

"No!" Randy said as they began a vicious tug of war.

Meanwhile, Sportacus was trying to figure out a way to cheer Tara up. She was slurping down her fifth smoothie, the straw hitting the bottom of the cup, but Tara didn't notice. She just sat dejectedly hunched over, staring off into space. Finally, taking action (and because that slurping sound annoyed him) Sportcus took the cup away from Tara.

"Hey!" she protested.

"I think you've had enough." he stated firmly.

"Not even one more for the road?" Tara asked.

"No because you don't need smoothies. You need to know you are a great artist and a great person so stop feeling sorry for yourself!" Sportacus said.

"You don't understand Sport." Tara said folding her arms and shaking her head.

"What don't I understand?" he asked.

"Mr. Warthog wasn't the first person to say I'm a bad artist. Back in the city...no one would..." she sighed and softly mumbled under her breath, "That's why I moved to Lazytown in the first place."

Sportacus nodded and said,

"I see..."

"I thought if I moved away from my problems I could get rid of them...Looks like they ended up following me." Tara said looking down at her feet. Then she felt two fingers lift her chin up so she could look up into Sportacus' eyes.

"Tara...They must not know anything in the city. Because I think you're a great artist...and a great friend. And once you realize that, you won't care what anyone says about you." Sportacus told her. Tara smiled,

"Really?"

"Sure...I mean come on! You're smart, talented, funny, beautiful, kind..." Sportacus said.

"You think I'm beautiful?" Tara asked. Sportacus stopped midsentence and gulped. He looked nervously at her expectant face and said,

"Well...yeah...In fact...Would...would you like to...take a hike with me next week? Up to Lazy Heights Ridge?"

"Are...you asking me out on a date?" Tara smiled leaning in closer to his face. Sportacus shrugged and leaned in as well,

"Yeah...I guess I am...It was easier than I thought it would be..."

"Why's that?" she asked leaning in.

"I thought you'd say no." he said as their lips were only two inches apart.

"Not likely..."Tara said her eyes fluttering closed. Sportacus couldn't help himself. He found himself leaning in, closing his eyes and puckering his lips. But suddenly, the crystal on his chest blinked in alarm. The backed away from each other and looked down at it. Sportacus stood to his feet and said looking around,

"Someone's in trouble!"

"Naturally!" Tara said rolling her eyes. Then she stood to her feet when she heard someone cry,

"Hey! Let go!"

"It's Stephanie!" cried Tara concerned. Sportacus grabbed her hand and pulled her along,

"Let's go!"

* * *

The kids were watching in shock as Stephanie was struggling with the older man to get her paintbrush back. When Sportacus and Tara arrived, Ziggy looked to them and exclaimed,

"Sportacus! You've got to help!"

Sportacus nodded and stepped forward, his fists on his hips as he told Stephanie,

"Let him have it Stephanie."

"But Sportacus! He's got my paintbrush!" Stephanie declared.

"Steph! Just let him have it!" Tara told her. Stephanie looked up into the smug face of the determined Randy Warthog and grimaced,

"Well...alright..."

But when she let go, Randy wasn't ready, so he fell backwards into the canvases, knocking them over, sending paint flying and a bucket of paint on top of his head like a messy helmet.

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?!" Randy declared yanking on the bucket.

"Well...she let him have it alright..."Pixel said as Sportacus went forward to help Randy up. Stephanie gasped,

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you Mister..."

But she was cut short when Sportcus yanked the paintbucket off Randy's head with a loud pop, taking his wig with it.

"Robby Rotten!" chorused everyone. With his face covered in splotches of every color of the rainbow, Robbie blanched and said,

"Oppsie..."

"Robbie! So it was you!" Tara said fiercely. Robbie's lower lip trembled and he bawled out,

"Yes, yes it was me! I couldn't let a great artist like Tara teach a class where they would draw pictures of Sportflunky here so I lied and said you didn't know what you were talking about so the kids would listen to me! I'm sorry! Sorry, sorry, sorry!"

Even after Robbie's apologiee, Tara tried to rush Robbie after saying,

"I am going to hurt you. Right now!"

Robbie jumped into Sportacus' arms with a shrill girlish shirek and Sportacus stopped Tara by saying,

"Now wait! He said he was sorry. And I'm sure Robbie would be happy to do something to make it up to you." Sportacus said.

"Like what?" asked Tara.

"Yeah like what?" Robbie asked as Sportacus simply grinned.

* * *

Robbie panted and moaned in pain as he grabbed his lower back. Then he dipped his brush in the paint bucket and applied the red color to the exterior of Tara's house. Watching a little ways away and drinking drinking smoothies with the kids, Tara said to Sportacus,

"Nice idea you had about letting Robbie make up to me."

"I have my moments." Sportacus said.

"We're sorry Tara, for dumping you at the art class." Stingy said.

"Yeah really sorry!" Trixie said as the other's nodded in agreement.

"That's okay guys. Guess I thought a famous artist and a good artist were the same thing too." Tara said with a pointed look to Sportacus.

"We'd love to continue our lessons Tara. Maybe next week?" Stephanie suggested.

Tara smiled,

"I'll be there!"

As the kids cheered and talked excitedly, running off to play, Sportacus asked Tara,

"You know...speaking of next week...I never got a clear answer about what I asked you..."

Tara smiled and stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek, whispering playfully in his ear, knowing shivers were going down his spine,

"I didn't say no, did I?"

Sportacus simply smiled as the kids began dancing with Stephanie singing,

_**Bing Bang Diggly Dong  
First thing that I say after I wake up  
Bing Bang Diggly Dong  
I say those words before I go to sleep **_

_**Get on up it's time to dance yeah  
It's so much fun being up on our feet**_

_**So we go up up  
To the top  
Move around and clap your hands together  
Down down turn around  
Having fun is what it's all about**_

_**Bing Bang Diggly Dong  
Funny words I sing when I am dancing  
Bing Bang Diggly Dong  
Silly words that can mean anything**_

_**Get on up it's time to dance yeah  
It's so much fun being up on our feet**_

_**So we go up up  
To the top  
Move around and clap your hands together  
Down down turn around  
Having fun is what it's all about**_

_**Oh 1, 2 me and you  
Move around and clap your hands together  
3, 4 on the floor  
Having fun is what it's all about!**_

Robbie scowled as he wiped his brow, leaving a smug of red paint,

"I've got to call my agent..."


	15. Take a Hike!

_We at the Lazytown Chronicle searched far and wide, high and low for the Author. We found her in Mongolia of all places, playing checkers with Billy Crystal. And while he was whisked away to host the Oscars, we brought the Author back to Lazytown to write the continuing romance of Tara Trueheart to Sportacus 10! So without further ado, lets go go go to Lazytown!_

* * *

High above in his airship, the world's healthiest hero was going through his wardrobe.

"Closet doors!" he commanded. The closet opened showing about twenty identical blue outfits. He jumped, flipped, somersaulted and landed before the open closet. He scratched his head and said,

"Hmm...what should I wear?"

Suddenly an alarm went off and he back flipped and caught a small cylinder.

"I got mail!" he exclaimed. He opened the cylinder and read the short note,

'Can't wait for our date tomorrow, Sport. Love, Tara'

He blushed with a smile seeing the red SWAK.

* * *

_**Welcome to Lazytown**_

_**It's the start of a brand new day!**_

_**You'll meet Robbie with his rotten plan,**_

_**And Sportacus saving the day!**_

_**Stephanie was new in town,**_

_**And soon she and Ziggy were friends!**_

_**With Stingy, Pixel,Trixie and Tara too,**_

_**They're going to have a blast together!**_

_**Go go go! Get up Lazytown!**_

_**It's the start of a brand new day!**_

_**Things are upside down here in Lazytown,**_

_**Adventure's just a moment away...**_

**'Take a Hike!'**

"No...no...no..." Tara said shifting through her closet and tossing things out into the arms of the ten year old pink clad girl. Struggling to hold all the clothes, Stephanie suggested,

"Tara...I'm sure whatever you wear Sportacus will like!"

"Oh Steph...first thing you need to learn about boys. It's one thing to get them to like you. But I want Sportacus to love what I'm wearing. I want to make an impression so he'll never forget a moment about our first date. You see boys are visual creatures. If something is pretty or shiny they'll fawn all over it. Why do you think boys love cars so much?" Tara explained.

"I guess Trixie and I have a lot to learn about boys." Stephanie giggled.

"Say...where is trixie?" Tara asked looking around.

"I don't know. Trixie?" Stephanie called out. Suddenly a pile of clothes began to wiggle on the bed and Trixie popped out and gasped for air,

"I can breath again!"

"Trixie!" giggled Stephanie.

"Sorry Trixie. Guess I have more clothes than I thought." Tara said helping the girl climb out of her clothes.

"That's okay. I found those red hiking boots you were looking for." Trixie said handing them to her.

"Great. Thanks Trixie." Tara said.

"Your welcome. But I still don't see whats so romantic about a hike up to Lazy Heights Ridge." Trixie said.

"It was something Sportacus wanted to do. Besides I'm packing a picnic full of sports candy so we'll have a great chance to talk over lunch. And then we can watch the sunset together and then we can star gaze." Tara said.

"That does sound romantic." sighed Stephanie.

"Ha! Yeah but good luck trying to get Sportacus to sit still for that long. One of the things about being the worlds healthiest superhero is he's always moving." Trixie said sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Oh I think I can show him that even sitting still, he can make a move." Tara replied with a slight grin.

"How?" Stephanie asked confused.

"I'll tell you when you're older." Tara winked making the girls giggle.

Meanwhile watching the girls help Tara get ready for her date through Tara s open window, Robbie Rotten growled through his periscope,

"Ooh! I can't believe Tara Trueheart is still going out with Sportajerk! It seems like years since he asked her out not a week!"

Robbie put away his periscope with a shrug,

"Oh well. Maybe I can come up with a rotten plan with Sportaloser distracted by his date."

Then he gasped with realization.

"Unless! Unless I tag along on their date and ruin it and make Tara dump Sportacus so badly that he'll be heartbroken and leave Lazytown forever! HAHAHA! I'm a genius!"

Then he paused in thought stroking his chin,

"But how to do it?"

Then a light bulb went over his head.

"I know! My old Sportacus disguise!" he cried running over to his box labeled,

'Discarded Disguises.'

"Tara hasn't seen me dress up as Sportajoker. So occasionally I'll step in and make her think Sportacus is the biggest jerk in the world!" he said pulling out the old disguise. Then he continued,

"Plus a whole bunch of delightful little goodies to make this the worst date in history! No matter what Peggy Peterson told the tenth grade class in high school! HA HA HA HA!"


	16. Chapter 16

The next morning Major Meanswell was setting up a ladder on the truck of his tree out front. Stephanie skipped up to him and asked,

"What are you up to today Uncle?"

"Oh Stephanie. I'm going to repaint that old birdhouse up there. But first I have to get it down." Major Meanswell replied.

"Oh. I would love to help you." Stephanie said.

"Good you can hold the ladder so that I don't fall, all right?" he suggested.

"All right." Stephanie nodded.

Down the street, Sportacus was doing backflips end over end as he came close to Tara's house. He landed by her mailbox and took a calming breath to steady his nerves.

"Okay Alex...you can do this...you can do this." he told himself.

But no sooner had he taken a step forward did Bessie Busybody pop out of the bushes and whisper,

"Alex!"

"Ah! Mom!" hissed Sportacus.

"Sorry honey. I just wanted to make sure your date went well." Bessie said.

"Oh thanks Mom." Sportacus nodded.

"Give you some advice if you need it..."

"Okay..."

"Take some pictures." Bessie said holding up her digital camera.

"Mom how is it going to look if you start taking pictures of me and Tara before our date?" Sportacus asked.

"Oh you're right of course. it could ruin your secret identity. I just thought since I never got to see you since you were twelve..." Bessie began.

"Mom."

"I missed out on seeing you in a tux with a date for prom..."Bessie said sadly.

"Mom."

"I just have no memories of my son to be proud of as he became a man...sniff sniff!" Bessie weakly said her voice breaking.

"One picture." he said holding up a finger and caving in.

"Oh now darling one picture will never do. I have to make sure I get both of your best sides." Bessie said stepping out of the bushes. Sportacus rolled his eyes and stepped towards the door. Bessie got her camera ready and nodded for Sportacus to open the door. He knocked then whispered to her,

"Okay remember that you're just taking pictures as a friend."

"Right, right, right." Bessie nodded. Tara opened the door only to get blinded by the flash of Bessie's camera.

"Wow okay." she blinked.

"Look who I ran into." Sportacus said.

"Hi Bessie? Can we help you?" Tara asked regaining her vision.

Oh don't mind me dear. With my son off at 'medical school' I'm just living vicariously through Sportacus. You don't mind me taking a few pictures do you?" Bessie asked.

"Not at all. Go ahead." Tara said with a laugh.

"You sure you don't mind?" sportacus asked.

"I'm sure she's just missing her son like crazy and this kind of thing makes her feel like a mother again." Tara said aside to Sportacus who nodded realizing that in a way she was right.

"Smile you two!" Bessie said taking their picture. Meanwhile Major Meanswell was reaching for the birdhouse when a bird decided to protest his presence.

"Shoo! Shoo! Now see here, I'm trying to make your home look a little nicer. The least you can do is show me some curtesy..whoa!" he said shaking on top of the ladder.

"Be careful Uncle!" Stephanie told him.

"AAGGG!" the major cried falling off the ladder only to grab hold of a branch.

"Oh! Uncle Milford! Get back on the ladder!" Stephanie told him.

"I'm trying..." he grunted trying to swing his foot over. Suddenly, the branch began to break.

"Oh no!" Stephanie cried.

"And one more looking that way." Bessie said as Tara and Sportacus strained to keep the smiles plastered on their faces.

"You sure you don't mind now?" Sportacus asked her through his teeth.

"Maybe a little." Tara replied truthfully. Just then they noticed Sportacus' crystal blinking.

"Somebody's in trouble!" sportacus said putting his fists on his hips.

"Oh thank the lord..." Tara sighed in relief at the distraction.

"Beg pardon dear?" Bessie asked.

"I mean I hope it's not too serious." Tara recovered.

"Help!" Stephanie cried.

"I'm coming Stephanie!" Sportacus said running off and jumping over Tara's fence. He ran up just as the Major was falling down.

"Oh dear!" The Major cried as the branch finally broke.

"Don't worry Mr. Major I got you!" Sportacus cried doing a flip and landing beneath the major just in time to catch the older man.

"Oh! Oh thank you Sportacus." the Major said.

"No problem Mr. Major." Sportacus said setting the major on his own feet again.

"Are you all right Uncle?" Stephanie asked.

"I'll be fine dear. But oh dear! Oh dear look at my little birdhouse. It's ruined." the major said picking up the pieces of the birdhouse that had fallen nearby.

"Are you all right Milford?" Bessie asked as she and Tara walked over to check on him.

"I'm all right but my birdhouse isn't doing so well." the major said.

"That's okay Mr. Major. Now you have a chance to build a new birdhouse." Sportacus suggested.

"Yeah a better birdhouse." Tara added.

"A better birdhouse?" the Major asked.

"Yeah it'll be great Uncle! We can build it together." Stephanie said.

"What a delightful idea. Come Stephanie. To the hardware store!" the Major said. Bessie laughed as she watched Major Meanswell and his niece run off.

"Oh those two...thick as thieves aren't they? Ah...Sportacus? Tara?" she said realizing that she was suddenly alone.

"Now where did those two sneak off to? I had four more memory cards left." she complained to herself. Peeking their heads around the tree, Sportacus and Tara laughed softly to themselves as they watched Bessie walk off.

"I fell kinda bad for sneaking off like that, but I couldn't wait anymore to start our date." Sportacus chuckled.

"I feel the same way. Besides...it's kinda fun to sneak around..."Tara purred tracing patterns on Sportacus' bicep. He shivered in pleasure and gulped. What was it about Tara that brought out the less heroic aspects of his personality?

"So I've got a great picnic packed. What do you say we start our hike so this date can start too?" Tara suggested holding up the picnic basket.

"That's great. Here, let me take the basket." Sportacus said taking the heavy basket from her.

"What a gentleman." Tara said. But his next comment surprised her.

"Come on. I'll race you to the trail!" Sportacus said taking off into a run.

"Huh? Sportacus! Wait up!" Tara called after him. She huffed to herself in aggravation. She should have known this was how a slightly above average hero thought a first date would go. Hopefully she would get him to slow down after their run. As she gave chase to her superhero date (and admiring the view of his backside while she did), she didn't realize that watching her from the bushes was Robbie Rotten, fully dressed in his Sportafake outfit.

"It's time to start my plan! Perfect...ooh...they're running? But that means I have to run to catch up with them! Not so perfect..." Robbie said. He took a deep breath then broke out into a jog. He didn't get five feet before he felt himself huffing and puffing for air. He took off again, cursing himself all the way,

"I knew I should have beaten them to Lazy Heights Ridge." he cried as he desperately pumped his legs to propel himself forward.


	17. Chapter 17

A few minutes later, Sportacus stopped right before the trail and said catching his breath,

"Whoo! Wasn't that fun Tara? Tara?"

Tara came a few moments later, slightly more out of breath than Sportacus. She put her hands on her knees and huffed,

"Sportacus? I have a feeling that dating you is really going to help with those pesky last five pounds..."

"Sorry. We'll walk the rest of the way. Besides it's mostly uphill so it's safer." Sportacus said scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"Great." Tara said taking a seat at a stone bench.

"Wow. Isn't this a great view? You can see all of Lazytown from here. Just think of how it'll be on the trail." Sportacus said taking a seat besides her.

"Yeah...whoo! My heart is pumping." Tara said.

"That's great. It's very healthy for you." Sportacus said.

'Okay...time to turn off the after school special and turn on the man...' Tara thought to herself.

"Here...feel." she said taking his hand and putting it on her heart. Sportacus gulped as he realized how close his hand was to certain parts of her anatomy. He looked up into her sparkling eyes and saw that she knew exactly what she was doing. The little minx. But Sportacus felt subconscious because he wasn't as experienced in these things as Tara. She had an idea of that since he had told her how he had grown up, but he didn't want her to know just how inexperienced he was. So he did the only thing that came naturally to him.

"Tara?" he asked.

"Yes, Sportacus..."she said leaning in.

"This bench would be great for triceps bends!" he said.

"Huh?"

"Here! I'll show you!" He said flipping over and then gripping the edge of the bench and doing the exercise.

"Oh yeah...that's great..."she said dumbfounded.

"Come on. It's fun." he urged her.

"Okay..."she said repeating the exercise, albeit at a slower pace than Sportacus. But she was so confused. Had she been too subtle? This was gonna be harder than she thought. She had to get him to think matters of the heart rather than heart health. She looked around the small clearing and smiled when she saw a flower up a hill.

"Oh! How pretty." she said.

"What is lt?" Sportacus asked stopping. She sat on the bench again and pointed to the flower,

"That flower up there. It would be perfect to paint back in my studio." Tara said. Sportacus jumped to his feet and told her,

"Wait here! I'll go get it for you."

Then he did his signature move and took off, running up the hill, even doing flips up in the tree branches. Tara took this opportunity to fix her hair and get out her compact to check her makeup. Meanwhile, Robbie crawled up to the clearing behind her huffing and puffing out of breath. He got to shaky feet and stumbled over to Tara. He fixed his fake mustache and then did a poor imitation of Sportacus' signature move.

"Hey Babe! I'm back!" he said doing an imitation of Sportacus' accent. Tara looked up at him and furrowed his brow.

"Sportacus?"

He seemed...strange. Not as buff and toned. More flabby and pasty. And there was something wrong with his eyes.

"Yes, that's me Sugar. Your hunky hero at your service." Sportafake said flexing his puny muscles.

"Sugar?" Tara asked. Why would Sportacus call her 'Sugar' if he couldn't stand the stuff?

"That's right Honey. Don't you love how buff and finely mustached I am?" he asked.

"Uh..."

"I know I know you're speechless from all this...this-ness." Sportafake said gesturing to himself.

"Where's my flower?" she asked folding her arms.

"What flower?" Sportafake asked.

"The flower you were getting me?" she reminded him with a raised brow.

"Oh! Right! I'll be right back." Sportafake said doing Sportacus' signature move and running off sporadically.

"That was Robbie..."Tara said to herself once he was gone. What was he up to this time?

* * *

Up the hill, Sportacus was picking the flower smiling as he thought of the beautiful woman he was about to give it to. Then he frowned in thought and looked down in the direction Tara was at.

"I can't be scared to make a move. I need to show her how I feel. Even if I'm not sure myself." he told himself. Then with a few more flips through the trees he ran back down the hill where he found Tara deep in thought. She gave him a smile though as he sat besides her and tucked the flower behind her ear. Then he caressed her cheek.

"Thank you." she said with a blush.

"A pretty flower for a pretty lady." he said. Then he gathered his courage and decided to go for it and he began to lean in. But he became confused when she stopped him by putting a hand on his chest.

"What's wrong?" he asked. Had he moved too fast too soon?

"As much as I would love to continue where this is heading, I'm afraid we've got a problem. Robbie Rotten followed us and for some reason he's dressed up as you." she told him. Sportacus rolled his eyes and groaned.

"Robbie...I should have known he would try something like this. He's dressed up as me before. He had all the kids convinced that he was me and that they should stop playing and eat junk food. Even the major was ready to banish me from Lazytown!" Sportacus told her.

"Seriously? They bought that?" Tara asked skeptically. It wasn't that good of a disguise.

"He's probably trying to make me look bad on our date so that you'll get mad at me and make me leave Lazytown." Sportacus deduced.

"Why do you put up with that guy anyway?" Tara asked.

Sportacus looked around then leaned in and told her,

"I let Robbie keep plotting to get rid of me because it's the only way he gets any exercise."

Tara laughed as she thought about it. For a guy determined to be lazy, Robbie Rotten sure did put a lot of effort into it.

"That's brilliant." Tara said shaking her head.

"I have my moments." Sportacus shrugged modestly.

Then he furrowed his brow and asked,

"How did you know it wasn't me?"

"Well, you really can t miss that chin of his...and...he's not built like you." Tara said beginning to rub his chest and shoulders. Sportacus gulped.

Tara continued,

"His eyes aren't the same amazing shade of blue as yours..."

"Tara..." Sportacus blushed with a smile.

"And there's only one Sportacus Ten for me." Tara told him That made him feel like jumping up all the way to his airship and back. Instead he kissed her hand and sighed.

"I better go find Robbie and tell him to go home." Sportacus said getting ready to get up. But Tara put a hand on his shoulder to stop him,

"Wait a minute. I think I got a better idea..."

"What?" Sportacus asked.

"Why don't we use this opportunity to teach Robbie a little lesson?" Tara suggested.

"What did you have in mind?" Sportacus asked as Tara got a mischievous grin on her face.


	18. End of Part 4

Back in Lazytown, Stephanie had gathered up all the supplies they had gotten from the hardware store to build their birdhouse.

"What do we do first Uncle Milford?" Stephanie asked.

"Well, first we need to trace this template onto the wood so that we can have the front and back of our birdhouse. Then we'll measure twice before we cut the side pieces and the top. Then we'll sand everything and then we'll paint it." Major Meanswell explained.

"Sounds simple to me." Stephanie shrugged.

"Oh it is. But it'll be great to work on it together. Come on let's get started." Major Meanswell said.

Just then Pixel came up to them and said,

"Hi Stephanie! Hi Mr. Major."

"Hi Pixel." Stephanie greeted him.

"Oh hello Pixel." the Major said.

"What are you doing?" Pixel asked.

"We're building a bird house." Stephanie said.

"Cool! But wait...where is the report for possible stress factors?" Pixel asked looking at their materials.

"Oh we don't need that. It's just a simple little birdhouse." Major Meanswell said.

"You never know Mr. Major. Wait right here! I'll draw up a report for you. Don't start until I get back." Pixel told them running off.

"But wait! Pixel! Oh dear..."Major Meanswell sighed.

* * *

Tara was waiting for Robbie to return and Sportacus was hiding behind a tree. Robbie came panting up a moment later and presented her with a sorry looking dandelion.

"There you go Toots." Robbie said striking a pose. Tara looked over at Sportacus' hiding spot and winked. He returned the wink as Tara said,

"Oh..."

"I know it's actually a weed and you'll probably want to dump me for being so inconsiderate..." Robbie began.

"Oh Sportacus I love it! Dandelions are my favorite flower!" Tara exclaimed.

Robbie did a double take,

"What?"

"Oh I had the best memories of sitting in a field and picking dandelions as a little girl and blowing on the seeds. How thoughtful of you! Thank you." Tara gushed.

"Uh...your welcome?" Robbie asked.

"Come on. Let's head out on the trail." Tara said getting to her feet.

"What? You mean we have even started yet?" Robbie exclaimed. Then remembering his plan, he recovered,

"I mean...of course we started. You go on up ahead Doll I'll be there in a moment I'm going to...stretch and...stuff..."

"Okay." Tara nodded taking the picnic basket and heading up the trail. Robbie pretended to stretch a moment before the crick in his back caused him to grab it in pain.

Sportacus chuckled as he shook his head,

"Robbie..."

He then jumped on the trail, making Robbie duck into a bush to hide. Sportacus pretended to look around and scratch his head.

"Tara?" he called out.

"Come on slow poke!" Tara called to him from the trail. Sportacus pretended to shrug and he took off down the trail after her. Robbie poked his head out and laughed under his breath.

"Perfect! Sportakook is falling right into my trap. Didn't see that coming with Tara though. I'll have to be an even bigger jerk! Haha!"

But as he went to duck under the bushes again, the branches snapped back and hit him in the face.

"Ow!"

* * *

Down the way, Pixel had returned with his schematics and finished explaining to Stephanie and the Major,

"So if you nail here, here and here, that birdhouse should be able to withstand a 5.0 earthquake Mr. Major."

"Yes, well...Thank you Pixel. That was most helpful. Now Stephanie. Let's start this birdhouse!" Major Meanswell said.

"Right!" Stephanie said picking up her hammer.

Just then Stingy came up and asked,

"Hey guys. What are you doing?"

"They're building a birdhouse." Pixel said.

"Without me? Oh and these tools will never do. If you want to build the best birdhouse, you should use my tools. Wait right here. I'll be right back!" Stingy said.

"Stingy! Stingy wait!" Stephanie cried.

"Oh dear..." the Major said.

* * *

Back on the trail, Sportacus was pointing out a bird chirping in a tree when he looked over his shoulder and caught Robbie spying on them. He pointed it out to Tara who nodded.

"Oh no! Someone's in trouble." Sportacus said pretending his crystal was blinking.

"Uh oh." Tara said trying to keep a straight face.

"Wait here. I'll be right back!" Sportacus said running off.

"Kay." Tara said. Robbie stepped out of the bushes and pretended that he had just flipped back.

"TA DA! Told ya I'd be back!" Robbie said.

"Oh you're so prompt Sportacus." Tara said as Robbie turned away and gagged. Then Tara smacked his shoulder hard making him clutch it in pain.

"Tag! You're it!" she said playfully.

"Huh? Oh...uh...right...hey wait up!" Robbie said chasing her up the trail.

* * *

Back in town Stingy set his tool box down on Major Meanswell workbench and said,

"Here you go."

"Thank you Stingy. Now let's get started shall..." the major said.

"Hey guys!" said Trixie as she and Ziggy came up to them.

"Oh no! Don't tell me you two want to help with our birdhouse too?" the Major asked.

"That's a great idea Mr. Major!" I'll go get some more paint." Trixie said.

"And I'll get some sports-candy to keep up our energy! Don't start without us." Ziggy said.

"We'll we right back!" Trixie said.

"But wait I...oh dear...what have I done?" the major asked himself as Stephanie patted his shoulder in sympathy.

* * *

Up on the trail, Tara was being haphazardly chased by Robbie who began to sing,

**_"There's something about you that gets my heart racing...ugh!"_**

Watching from the trees, Sportacus sang,

**_"There's something about the way you move me!"_** And with that he did a backflip.

**_"So how long do I have to keep on chasing..."_** panted Robbie.

**_"Tell me how long until you set my poor heart free?"_** sang Sportacus jumping back down to Tara making Robbie duck behind a tree.

_**"Catch me if you can...**_  
_**My heart is yours if you'll just take it...**_  
_**Catch me if you can...**_  
_**Come on I know that we can make it...**_

_**Catch me if you can,**_  
_**My heart is yours if you'll just take it!"**_ sang Tara dancing with sportacus. Then he jumped off the trail and Robbie jumped back in handing her a can of peanut brittle that was actually full of rubber snakes. But to his shock she just laughed.

_**"There's something about you that confuses me..."**_ Robbie sang.

"**_There's something about you that amazes me!"_** sang Sportacus doing a flip and a split.

**"_There's something about the way you look at me..."_** Robbie sang with suspicion after he squirted her with a flower full of water that she used to refresh herself.

**_There's something about you that's completely captivated me!"_** belted out Sportacus.

_**"Catch me if you can...**_  
_**My heart is yours if you'll just take it...**_  
_**Catch me if you can...**_  
_**Come on I know that we can make it...**_

_**Catch me if you can,**_  
_**My heart is yours if you'll just take it!"**_ sang Tara urging Robbie to unsuccessfully move a heavy log. Only he found himself confronting a hive of honeybees that chased him off the trail. So Sportacus stepped back in and moved the log with only one hand. As the instrumental break went on, Tara tried to feed Robbie some sports candy only to have him go throw up in the woods. Sportacus was only too glad to come back in and lay his head in Tara's lap as she fed him.

**_"Catch me if you can..._**  
**_My heart is yours if you'll just take it..._**  
**_Catch me if you can..._**  
**_Come on I know that we can make it..."_** Tara sang as she took turns dancing with both Sportacus and Robbie as they kept trading places along the trail.

**_Catch me if you can,_**  
**_My heart is yours if you'll just take it!"_** sang Tara as the song ended and Sportacus and Robbie both ended up by her side.

"Ahh!" Robbie shrieked nervously.

"Oh no...two Sportacus'?" Tara asked.

"I'm the real Sportacus." Sportacus said.

"No, I'm Sportacus!" Robbie said.

"No, I'm Sportacus." argued Sportacus.

"I'm Sportacus." Robbie said aside to Tara.

"I'm Sportacus!" Sportacus insisted.

"Boys, boys, boys! There's an easy way to settle this. Sportacus is the sweetest, most romantic man I've ever met." Tara said as Robbie turned and gagged. He spun back around and gave Tara his most dashing smile.

"Whoever does better at sweeping me off my feet has to be the real Sportacus." Tara continued.

"Oh is that all?" Robbie asked. He sped off for a second only to return with a large push broom.

"Where do you want to be swept to?" Robbie asked.

"Oh Sportacus you're so funny." Tara laughed.

"I think she meant something like this!" Sportacus said picking Tara up in his arms.

"Oh! Oh my..." Tara said fanning herself.

"Ha! Anyone can do that!" Robbie said.

Sportacus put Tara down and said,

"Alright. Then you try."

Robbie cracked his knuckles and tried to hook his arms under Tara's legs and lift. Only he grunted and groaned. Finally, he managed to take Tara in his arms albeit with his knees knocking and his arms shaking.

"Tada..."he said with strain.

"Gee this is really hard." Tara said with a pout.

"I know." Sportacus said. He ran off for a moment only to return with a bouquet of flowers.

"Oh..."Tara cooed smelling their sweet fragrance. Robbie held up a finger and scampered off. A few minutes later he returned with a bouquet of leaves and dandelions.

"Awww..."Tara said.

"This is crazy. One of us has to be the real Sportacus." Sportacus said.

"Well, there is one last way to tell. The real Sportacus...is a great kisser." Tara said hoping Sportacus wouldn't catch on to her ulterior motive. At least not just yet.  
"What?" Sportacus said not liking the idea of Robbie's lips anywhere near Tara's.

"I didn't know he had gotten to first base yet...I mean...of course I am!" Robbie said taking out some breath spray. But Tara turned to Sportacus first and kissed his cheek making him blush beet red. Then she turned to Robbie who already had his lips puckered. With a wink to Sportacus, Tara said,

"Just think, with this kiss...we might be together forever..."

Robbie's eyes shot open.

"Forever?" he said.

"Yeah I never want to leave Sportacus' side. I want to talk to him day and night. We'll exercise together, dance together and never...ever...ever stop moving." Tara said as the real Sportacus folded his arms and chuckled.

"Forever?" Robbie asked in horror.

"Kiss me you fool and prove to me you're the real Sportacus!" Tara said grabbing Robbie by the lapel.

"WAIT! I'm not the real Sportacus!" Robbie cried yanking back and prying off his hat and mustache.

"Robbie Rotten?" Tara asked in fake shock.

"He's the one you want! Go bug him for eternity!" AGGHHH!" Robbie cried before running off screaming. Tara exchanged a look with Sportacus and then the two burst out laughing.

"I think that's the last time Robbie will ever try to dress up as you again." Tara said.

"Come on. Let's go watch the sunset. Robbie free if you don't mind." Sportacus said putting an arm around her waist.

"Yes, please...uh oh..." Tara said doing a double take at Robbie's discarded bouquet.

"What is it?" Sportacus asked.

"Is it just me...or are some of those leaves poison ivy?" Tara asked with a wince.

"Oh boy...Robbie really did it to himself this time." Sportacus said as Tara nodded glad she hadn't actually taken the bouquet from Robbie.

* * *

Back in town, everyone had an input about how the birdhouse should have been built. Even Bessie had gotten in on the act and put little doll furniture inside. Then they all stepped back from the birdhouse that now resembled a mega mansion.

"Wow! That's so cool!" Ziggy cried.

"It's Pixeliscious!" Pixel said.

"What do you think Mr. Major?" Stingy asked. But seeing the major was gone, they looked around in confusion.

"Mr. Major? Stephanie?" Trixie asked.

"Milford!" cried Bessie.

"Where did they go?" Stingy asked. Suddenly they looked at Robbie Rotten as he ran past them screaming.

"What's gotten into him?" Trixie asked.

"I don't know." Stingy said.

Robbie ran past Stephanie and Major Meanswell just as they climbed down the ladder from putting up their new simple little birdhouse that they had snuck off to make by themselves.

"What's wrong with Robbie?" Stephanie asked in confusion.

"I don't know. But I'm sure he'll be alright. But what do you think of our little birdhouse Stephanie?" the Major asked.

"It's great Uncle." Stephanie said.

"I know everyone wanted to help with our birdhouse, but somethings are better when they're simple. Don't you agree?" the Major asked.

"Absolutely." Stephanie said. Then she began to sing and dance with her Uncle.

Bing Bang Diggly Dong First thing that I say after I wake up Bing Bang Diggly Dong I say those words before I go to sleep

Get on up it's time to dance yeah It's so much fun being up on our feet

So we go up up To the top Move around and clap your hands together Down down turn around Having fun is what it's all about

**_"Bing Bang Diggly Dong _**

**_Funny words I sing when I am dancing _**

**_Bing Bang Diggly Dong _**

**_Silly words that can mean anything_**

**_Get on up it's time to dance yeah _**

**_It's so much fun being up on our feet_**

**_So we go up up _**

**_To the top _**

**_Move around and clap your hands together _**

**_Down down turn around Having fun is what it's all about_**

**_Oh 1, 2 me and you" _**

**_Move around and clap your hands together _**

**_3, 4 on the floor _**

**_Having fun is what it's all about!_**

* * *

Later that night, Sportacus and Tara were lying on a grassy meadow looking up at the stars. Sportacus didn't even mind that it was past 8:08.

"The stars are so beautiful out here. You don't get to see stars like this in the city." Tara said.

"Yeah. Tara? You weren't going to really kiss Robbie were you?" Sportacus asked. Tara giggled and laid her head on his broad chest.

"You're kinda cute when you're jealous." she said.

"Me? Jealous of Robbie?" Sportacus said. Tara lifted her head and raised a skeptical brow at him.

"Maybe a little." Sportacus admitted.

"Besides...even if I did I think you still would have won hands down." Tara said.

Sportacus sighed and said,

"I don't know about that. Tara? You know I'm not very experienced with women..."

"I know. That's why I think you would have won." Tara said.

"Really? How?" Sportacus said.

"This is how." Tara said lifting her head up again and leaning in to brush her lips with his. He shut his eyes as she tilted her head to deepen the kiss.

When she pulled back she smiled,

"Nothing beats a first kiss."

"Wow..." Sportacus said. That was better than Sports candy! His heart was pumping and he was full of energy.

"You're welcome." Tara said laying her head back down again.

"Wow..." was all Sportacus could manage to say as Tara smiled.

* * *

Back in his lair, itchy and covered with red blotches, Robbie's stood in his long underwear and red polka dot boxers as he dumped his Sportacus disguise in the trash once and for all. Then he wandered over to his fluffy orange recliner and spat while scratching himself,

"Women!"


End file.
